In order to successfully move through the care journey and maintain health and wellness, patients need to be able to access accurate, digestible information about their health. A key piece of patient engagement, patient education solutions are important tools for healthcare organizations, as these tools equip patients with needed information to navigate diagnoses and upcoming procedures.
In September 2024, KLAS published our first report focused on the patient education market and vendor performance in this space. (While some healthcare organizations produce their own education content and house it in a vendor’s solution, this report looks at only patient education vendors who create and deliver content to organizations.) As many healthcare organizations continue to invest in patient education to support their patient engagement initiatives, this report can help them find solutions that will best meet their needs and their patients’ needs.
A Look at the Market: Organizations See Positive Outcomes, Patients Want More Digestible Content
Interviewed healthcare organizations generally report that their patient education solutions deliver positive outcomes, regardless of which vendor they use. The most commonly reported outcome is higher patient engagement—including improved patient interaction with content, higher patient satisfaction, and increased involvement in their health. Several organizations also highlight achieving smoother operations with their patient education solutions thanks to the standardized content and streamlined process for getting content to patients. Because the majority of organizations see strong benefits from these solutions, a very high percentage of respondents report that their patient education solution is part of their long-term plans.
Regarding the patient perspective, insights from the new KLAS Patient Voice Collaborative indicate that, while patients acknowledge the importance of education tools, patients see them as a lower priority than healthcare organizations do. This is primarily because patients often feel that education content is too long and not patient friendly. As vendors and healthcare organizations work to make education content more digestible and concise for patients, satisfaction with the written and video education content will likely increase.
Vendor Performance: How Satisfied Are Customers & What Improvements Do They Want?
While all vendors in this market generally perform well, customers of the patient education vendors measured in this report highlight different strengths. Interviewed customers of Healthwise—the 2024 Best in KLAS winner for patient education—and Krames highlight these vendors for their written content. (Notably, both vendors have been acquired by WebMD to be included in their new consumer-facing resource, WebMD Ignite.) Wolters Kluwer and Elsevier are well known for the clinician-facing content in their CDS reference tools; Wolters Kluwer customers appreciate the educational videos, and organizations using Elsevier note the vendor’s written education content is digestible and patient friendly. Although Mytonomy is a newer player in the patient education market, early customers appreciate the vendor for their microlearning, short-form videos that help keep patients engaged in their education.
As KLAS interviewed organizations for this report, they asked respondents whether their patient education solution fulfilled all their needs. While many respondent organizations use only one patient education provider, there are also several organizations that employ multiple patient education solutions in order to meet specialty needs (e.g., orthopedics, pediatrics, rehab, etc.). Across measured vendors, customers are looking for more specialty content to support patients in all areas of healthcare. Other generally desired improvements include more data analytics and more language options without added expenses.
For specific insights into each vendor’s performance and customer experience, please read the full report.
Next Steps for Patient Education
Patient education is an important aspect of care delivery, and healthcare organizations will consistently prioritize these tools in the coming years as they seek to provide patient-centric care. KLAS will continue to monitor vendor performance in this market. Additionally, the KLAS Patient Voice Collaborative will continue to interview patients about their healthcare experiences and expectations for healthcare technology; insights into the patient voice also will be shared at the next annual Patient & Consumer Innovation Summit in April 2025.
We encourage all healthcare organizations to read the recent patient education report. If organizations are already using a patient education solution, please take a short survey with KLAS to share your experience with peers.
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