A big buzzword these days in healthcare is patient engagement, which simply means the goal of getting consumers to take on a bigger role in keeping healthy.

Web technology is playing a significant role in helping hospitals deliver better care via closer contact with patients, says a new survey of 369 hospital executives from the Massachusetts Medical Society and the New England Journal of Medicine.

The survey found that nearly three-fourths (69%) of hospitals have some form of patient engagement initiative. But so far only 14% of hospitals say their patient engagement strategy is making a major difference in the quality of care or outcomes compared with 34% that say the difference is moderate. For most hospitals38%a web-based patient portal was the primary tool used to drive patient engagement compared with secure e-mail at 14%, patient data only accessed through an electronic health record at 9% and 8% through an online scheduling and reminder tool.

Hospitals are using web tools such as portals more than social media to better communicate with patients. 88% of hospitals say they have a patient portal plan to deploy one within 24 months. 77% and 72%, respectively, are using or plan to use secure e-mail and online scheduling and reminder tools to better engage patients. 68% also useor willpatient data only accessed through an electronic health record to reach out more to patients.

But only 59% of hospitals are incorporating social media into their patient engagement program, while 42% have no plans to do so. The numbers add up to more than 100% because of rounding. At more than one-third of hospitals the chief medical officer (38%) and staff physicians head up the patient engagement program followed by nurses (23%), chief nursing officer (19%), chief marketing officer (15%) and others (23%). Respondents could choose multiple answers.

As an industry, we obviously have more work to do to demonstrate that providers should be engaging and supporting patients outside of direct healthcare encounters, the survey says.