PITTSBURGH – Women Care Associates at Magee Women’s Hospital at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center has rolled out a Web-based patient education platform.

To make sure physicians encourage patients to use it, the hospital has developed a “prescribing” piece as part of the physician incentive program.

Initially the program was rolled out as a risk management tool and also with the idea that “an informed patient is likely to do better than an uninformed patient, said Dennis English, MD, vice president of medical affairs and director of Women Care Associates.

“We believe it’s a quality initiative,” English said. It also helps on the litigation side, too, he said. And in that way, the Web-based patient sessions, created specifically for UPMC by Chicago-based Emmi Solutions Inc., shows a great return on investment, he said, though he could not give the return a specific number.

“If this helps us avoid a law suit, the ROI is probably quite high,” English said.

So far, the topics include labor and delivery, recovery after a hysterectomy and what to expect when taking hormone replacement.

“It’s useful whenever you have to convey a lot of information,” said Stephanie Nicolas, MD, who developed some of the modules along with English and a team at Emmi Solutions. The patient can absorb the information in the comfort of her home. When she is ready to talk with a physician, the focus can be on pertinent concerns.

Physicians at the hospital-owned practice are encouraged to prescribe the Web sessions to their patients. It’s part of a nine-point system on which they are evaluated for bonuses and it represents a little over 3 percent of their bonus.

Patient feedback has been positive, English said. The Web sessions are so much more valuable and cogent than the “mumbo jumbo that we sometimes put on paper.”

Next up for Web modules are plastic surgery, gastroenterology and urology.

Emmi CEO Jordan Dolin says 75 departments at UPMC use Emmi educational modules, accounting for about 700 physicians. An Emmi client service representative is on site full time.