Hospitals’ and health systems’ ongoing prioritization of health information technology (IT) tools continues to expand patients’ ability to engage with their providers, access their health data, and interact with the health care system electronically. It also allows providers to more readily communicate across settings of care, supporting greater care coordination. In a patient-centered, value-driven care model, the ability of patients to interact and engage with both their health data and the health care delivery system electronically is a key driver of high-quality health care. 

This is the first in a series of issue briefs highlighting data from the 2016 AHA Annual Survey Information Technology Supplement for community hospitals
collected November 2016 – April 2017.1 This brief focuses on the state of patient's access to and engagement with their health data through health IT. Results are grouped into three categories of activity: accessing health data, interacting with health data, and obtaining health care services.

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