This is part of Elion’s weekly market map series where we break down critical vendor categories and the key players in them. For more, become a member and sign up for our email here.

When patients better understand their health, outcomes improve. Yet rising patient volumes  and compressed clinical encounters make it hard for clinicians to consistently deliver thorough explanations tailored to patients lacking clinical education and vocabulary. 

Enter digital patient education: digital tools that enhance patients’ understanding of their health conditions, treatment options, and overall care processes through videos, written materials, and interactive content aimed at explaining medical diagnoses, procedures, and recommended treatment plans in an accessible and engaging manner.

Defining Patient Education Solutions

Digital patient education tools are digital platforms that may be personalized and white-labeled to align with specific healthcare providers or institutions, or embedded into other patient engagement tools and workflows. Adjacent categories include care plan management—some of which may also be considered patient education solutions—and bedside patient engagement, which we do not include in this category, as educational content must be accessible to the patient outside of the office or hospital.

History of Patient Education: From Pamphlets to Platforms

Historically, patient education was delivered in the form of printed materials handed out during visits or mailed post-discharge. While helpful, these approaches weren’t tailored to the individual, inconsistently distributed, and dependent on the time and enthusiasm of individual providers.

As EHRs have matured and digital patient engagement tools gain traction, vendors have begun offering digital content libraries that make education more consistent, measurable, and scalable. Today, with advances in AI, platforms are increasingly capable of tailoring content in real time based on clinical data, care context, and patient interaction. 

How Patient Education Tools Work

Patient education tools generally function by surfacing condition-specific content—like videos, infographics, or explainers—directly to patients via text message, patient portal, or in-app notifications. Many platforms integrate with the EHR to trigger content delivery based on encounter type, diagnosis, procedure, or treatment plan.

Some tools are provider-driven, allowing clinicians to select and assign content manually from the EHR or a third-party application. Others are more automated, with pre-built pathways that dynamically assign content based on structured data in the EHR. Increasingly, platforms are incorporating AI-generated summaries, natural language explanations of clinical notes, or multilingual support to increase accessibility. Some additionally use provider digital twin avatars to enhance personalization and trust. Many also support tracking and analytics, so providers can confirm whether content has been viewed and identify knowledge gaps.

Vendor Landscape: Who’s Who in Patient Education

Vendors in this category fall into two broad groups:

End-to-End Engagement Solutions with Education Features: These platforms offer education as part of a broader patient engagement or care plan management workflow. Educational content is typically embedded in a larger platform that also supports care navigation, follow-up, or bidirectional messaging. Examples: AndorNow, Conversa Health, Get Well Guided Care, Orbita Care Navigation, Pillar Platform, SeamlessMD, Twistle.

Education-Only Solutions: These platforms specialize in delivering high-quality, personalized educational content—sometimes white-labeled or customized per provider. Examples: Acolyte Health, Elsevier PatientPass, HealthInteractive, Healthwise, MedBridge Patient Education, Mytonomy, PatientIQ ClinicalPRO, Sanctuary Health, UpToDate Educate, ViewMedica, YouTube Health. 

Where Patient Education Is Headed

As AI-powered summarization and large language models become more widely adopted, expect patient education tools to move beyond static content libraries. Some platforms are already beginning to generate visit summaries or clinical note translations for patients in plain language, potentially expanding access and comprehension. We believe it’s not long until these are more widely adopted and potentially integrated directly into the educational content itself.

Additionally, we anticipate deeper integration with care management tools, particularly in value-based care programs that depend on patient adherence and activation. Automation will play a growing role here—not just delivering content, but triggering follow-ups based on whether the content was viewed, understood, or acted on.