UpToDate's KLAS Win Signals Shift to Empowered Patient Care

WALTHAM, MA – February 04, 2026 – In a move that underscores a fundamental shift in healthcare towards patient empowerment, Wolters Kluwer Health has once again secured top honors for its clinical and patient engagement solutions. The company announced that two of its UpToDate® offerings were ranked #1 in the newly released 2026 Best in KLAS – Software and Services report, a highly respected benchmark in the healthcare technology industry.

UpToDate Patient-Driven Care Management and UpToDate Patient Education were named the top-performing solutions in their respective categories. This marks the third time the care management solution has earned the top spot and the second consecutive year for the patient education platform. The recognition from KLAS Research, which derives its rankings exclusively from in-depth interviews with thousands of healthcare professionals, validates the growing importance of tools that actively involve patients in their own care journey.

A Benchmark for Excellence in a Competitive Field

The Best in KLAS awards are considered a gold standard in the health IT sector because they reflect the direct, unfiltered feedback of end-users. Vendors are rigorously evaluated on culture, loyalty, operations, product features, relationships, and overall value. In this competitive landscape, UpToDate's solutions achieved impressive scores, with Patient-Driven Care Management earning a 91.4 and Patient Education receiving an 87.1.

This achievement places Wolters Kluwer alongside other industry titans recognized in the 2026 report, such as Epic Systems, which was named top Overall Health System Suite for the 16th year, and athenahealth, which secured top honors for independent physician practice suites. The consistent high performance of UpToDate in a field crowded with specialized vendors highlights its success in delivering tangible value to healthcare organizations. The KLAS report confirms that providers are not just satisfied with the products; they see them as critical assets in improving care delivery.

Empowering the Patient as a Core Care Team Member

The recognition for UpToDate's solutions taps into one of modern healthcare's most significant trends: the rise of the empowered patient. As healthcare moves away from a paternalistic model, the focus is shifting to shared decision-making, where patients are treated as active partners. This requires accessible, reliable, and understandable health information, a need that these tools are designed to fill.

Customer feedback collected by KLAS provides a vivid picture of this transformation in action. One healthcare executive noted the profound impact on patient understanding and confidence, stating, “Because medicine is an advanced science, sometimes patients can't ask a question because they don't know enough. This solution does a really good job with the videos of giving them the basic science so that they can understand and truly have an informed consent process.”

Another manager described how the tools alleviate patient anxiety by providing clear, digestible information that can be reviewed at their own pace. “The system breaks information down, and because we can send a little QR code home with the patient, it has helped with people just feeling more confident about what they are heading into, as opposed to the doctor just saying something,” the manager reported. This ability to absorb complex information on their own time turns moments of uncertainty into opportunities for education and engagement, transforming patients from passive recipients of care into active participants.

Bridging the Gap Between Clinician and Patient

A key strategic element behind the success of the UpToDate platform is its unified content strategy. The patient education materials are directly aligned with the evidence-based clinical decision support resources that millions of providers already trust. This creates a seamless informational bridge, ensuring that the guidance a patient receives is consistent with the data their clinician is using to make treatment decisions.

This integration is more than a convenience; it is a powerful tool for improving communication and building trust. When a doctor can prescribe educational content that is drawn from the same expert-vetted source they rely on, it reinforces the care plan and fosters a more collaborative provider-patient relationship. For health systems using UpToDate Enterprise, this content can be delivered directly into the Electronic Health Record (EHR), embedding patient education into the core clinical workflow. This interoperability is critical for driving efficiency and ensuring that patient engagement is not an afterthought but an integral part of the care process.

From Engagement to Outcomes: The Tangible Impact on Care

While patient satisfaction and empowerment are valuable goals in themselves, the ultimate measure of any healthcare technology is its impact on clinical outcomes. The philosophy underpinning the UpToDate ecosystem—providing fast, reliable access to evidence-based information—has been linked to tangible improvements in hospital performance. Independent studies have suggested that hospitals using the broader UpToDate clinical decision support tool have experienced benefits such as shorter patient lengths of stay and lower risk-adjusted mortality rates compared to non-user hospitals.

These findings, coupled with the consistent top rankings for its patient-facing tools, paint a compelling picture of a platform that enhances care at multiple levels. By improving health literacy, the solutions enable patients to manage their conditions more effectively, adhere to treatment plans, and participate in shared decision-making. This, in turn, can lead to better health outcomes, reduced complications, and more efficient use of healthcare resources.

The continued accolades from KLAS are not just a win for Wolters Kluwer but a validation of a patient-centric approach to healthcare. As the industry continues its digital transformation, with AI and predictive analytics poised to play an even larger role, the foundation of a well-informed and engaged patient will become more critical than ever. The success of platforms like UpToDate demonstrates that the most effective technology is that which closes gaps, fosters understanding, and ultimately empowers people by placing expert knowledge directly in their hands.