What should a patient portal for a statewide health information network look like? That’s a question New York eHealth Collaborative has been considering for awhile. If the interface characteristics of the three winners of a design competition for portal prototypes are anything to go by, it should be aesthetically driven, intuitive and easy to use for a public representing a wide spectrum of health literacy.
Mana Health, a big proponent of making data beautiful, won first prize and $15,000. iHealthNY, by Applied Informatics, took a Facebook approach to its layout and also used natural language systems in its search tool in their portal design, won $7,500. My Health Profile by RDE Systems netted $2,500. They were among the nine companies to participate in a demo day last month to make a case for their designs.
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Probably the biggest talking points between judges and participants at the event was how to balance making personal health records accessible and readable enough so that users will get the most benefit from using the portal. How do you include enough information about people’s health without overwhelming them and without making it too technical?
The technology vendor who wins the contract to develop the patient portal for the SHIN-NY is expected to take on board some of the features embraced by the winning designs.
“One of the most important achievements of the Challenge is that it engaged New Yorkers in this crucial discussion,” said David Whitlinger, New York eHealth Collaborative executive director.
Although there are a handful of private patient portals, New York is on track to be the first public health information network with a patient portal. In a recent interview with MedCity News, Paul Wilder, vice president for product management at the NYeHealth Collaborative, said a big benefit to the approach it is taking with the portal is it will provide more data to patients such as lab results and their medical history because it’s coming directly from providers as opposed to a middle man like a payer or another third party.
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