When health systems talk about portal adoption, the conversation usually stops at login counts. The interesting number is what happens after the login — or what doesn't happen because of it.
The unseen ledger
Across the studies we've reviewed, patients over 65 with limited digital confidence are:
- 2.3× more likely to miss a scheduled telehealth visit.
- 41% more likely to be readmitted within 30 days for a chronic condition.
- Spending 17% more on care over a year than peers with similar conditions but higher digital confidence.
None of those numbers show up on a portal-adoption dashboard. They show up in claims data, six months later.
Where the friction lives
It is almost never the login that breaks the experience. It is the next four screens: appointment selection that hides specialty filters, lab results presented without explanation, secure messaging that doesn't make clear when the doctor has actually read the message.
The portal works. It's the workflow that doesn't.
Three leverage points
1. Real-time guidance on the patient's side
This is where Mimi sits. A companion who can read the same screen the patient is reading and explain it in plain language, without making the patient feel stupid for asking.
2. Aggregated friction insights for the system
Where do people abandon? Which messages get re-read three times? Which forms get filled out wrong consistently? These are signals the system can act on without ever looking at an individual session.
3. Closing the loop with care teams
The biggest gains we've seen come from connecting Mimi's "stuck" signals back to the care team — not as a flag, but as a quick context note: "Patient tried to message you three times, may need a phone call." That's the leverage.
What we're working on
We're piloting with two regional health systems this summer to quantify the impact of Mimi-supported telehealth on no-show rates and 30-day readmissions. Early results will be published here in Q4.