better doctor patient portal

What is an online patient portal and how does it work?

An online patient portal is a website that is used to access personal health information. The patient portal is helpful for patients to keep track of their medical visits, test results, billing, prescriptions and insurance, among others. The AMA is dedicated to securing patients’ right to quality health care.

How can providers improve patient access to health information?

Providers instituted a practice of requesting information from patients directly over the portal, such as at-home measures of blood sugars or blood pressure, to reinforce portal use. To overcome staff resistance, the FQHC piloted the portal implementation with its employees and providers who received care at the organization.

What is the center doing to monitor patient portals?

The Center already monitors MU measures related to patient portals, but will now assess other measures to examine patient satisfaction, health outcomes, and how patients use technology to further manage their own health and health care.

How do physicians feel about the patient portal?

Some physicians had some initial fears about how the patient portal would affect the practice and how they provided care. The organization brought in a colleague, Dr. Larry Garber, to talk with the entire provider team, share the benefits of the portal approach, and encourage them to use it personally.

Why is portal important?

The portal has proven to offer a much better means of communication. The care team is now able to keep in contact with patients more reliably and ask them direct questions when needed. Using the portal has enabled the organization to be more transparent and interactive with patients, and to proactively send patients the information they need.

What is the FQHC portal?

The FQHC sees improved communication between patients and providers, and views every instance when a patient emails a provider, nurse, or health coach as an opportunity to take a step towards better health. Patients find the portal to be useful and convenient, as it provides direct access to their health care and information as they need it. The portal supports the organizations philosophy of person-centered and respectful care, and perceives a resulting increase in responsibility and ownership among patients. Now that patients have a greater familiarity and comfort level with technology, the organization is planning to use telemedicine to offer virtual appointments to some patients.

What did the FQHC do to improve the portal?

The FQHC also took measures to increase patient support and acceptance of the portal. The organization used questions and points of confusion from telephone calls about the portal to identify areas for improvement. The organization also engaged a group of peer volunteers to help some of the older patients who were having difficulty using the portal.

Does the Center monitor MU?

The Center already monitors MU measures related to patient portals, but will now assess other measures to examine patient satisfaction, health outcomes, and how patients use technology to further manage their own health and health care. The organization is developing a report to further explore statisitcs about portal use and related patient engagement.

Can iPads be used in a clinic?

The FQHC determined that tablet computers would provide the easiest experience for patients accessing the portal from a clinical setting, and chose to install iPads. Patients use these iPads in the clinic to submit requests directly to the care team while at their appointment. Patients can also access the portal on a mobile app or website when not at the clinic.

What are patient portals’ benefits?

As noted above, patient portals have several benefits, mainly pertaining to patient access to health data. Research shows that when patients are able to see their own health data, they gain ownership of their own wellness and are better prepared to interact with their providers about their care.

How do providers promote patient portal use?

While patient portal benefits may sound enticing, they aren’t entirely effective if patients do not adopt them. As noted above, patient portal adoption is increasing, but there is still room for it to grow.

What are patient portals?

May 13, 2016 - Patient portals are an online website that is connected to the EHR, centrally focused on patient access to health data. These tools give patients a look into various data points, including lab results, physician notes, their health histories, discharge summaries, and immunizations.

Why do we need portals?

Further, portals help providers educate their patients and prepare them for future care encounters. When patients have access to their health data, they are better informed, and have the potential to generate deep and meaningful conversations regarding patient wellness during doctor’s appointments.

Why do portals like secure messaging make patients want to return to a certain provider?

Because portal features like secure messaging facilitate strong bonds between patients and providers, these tools make patients want to return to a certain provider.

Why do providers need to understand patient populations?

Providers must understand which patient populations are and are not likely to utilize the patient portal. By identifying populations with lower adoption rates, providers can target their engagement strategies to encourage portal adoption, helping them to deliver better care to their patients in the long-run.

Why do minority patients have lower portal adoption rates?

Research shows that minority ethnicities have lower rates of patient portal adoption, potentially due to lack of access to technology or lack of technology literacy.

What is practice better?

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Do health professionals use multiple applications?

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What is the Patient Portal?from 19742.portal.athenahealth.com

The Patient Portal is an online service that provides patients secure access to their health information. Various features may be available on the portal at your practice's discretion, including the ability to send messages to your health care providers, schedule appointments, and pay bills online. top

What to do if you have issues logging into your patient portal?from athenahealth.com

If you’re having issues logging into your patient portal, please contact your medical provider’s office for support.

How to sign out of a portal?from 19742.portal.athenahealth.com

Click the Sign Out link at the top right of the screen. Alternatively, if your keyboard remains idle for 10 minutes or more, you will receive a pop-up window asking if you are still actively using the portal. If you do not click the OK button, you will be signed out automatically. Any information you have typed and not saved or sent will be lost.

How old do you have to be to use the Patient Portal?from 19742.portal.athenahealth.com

Any active patient over the age of 13 is eligible to register for and use the Patient Portal. If you are authorized, a family access account can be created that will allow you to access selected family members' health information. top

What do you do if you are an authorized caregiver?from athenahealth.com

If you are an authorized caregiver that needs help accessing a family member’s account, you will need to contact that family member’s medical provider for support.

Can you use a portal locator on a patient portal?from athenahealth.com

Yes. Using the portal locator doesn’t affect your ability to use other URLs to log in to your patient portal.

Can you make your test results available on the patient portal?from 19742.portal.athenahealth.com

It is at your provider's discretion to make test results available. Your provider must authorize the release of your test results in order for them to post to your Patient Portal account. Only test results which are considered appropriate for release will be accessible through the Patient Portal. top

Breaking down barriers

The AMA is dedicated to securing patients’ right to quality health care. Help us expand access to care in the U.S.

Messages should be short

If a patient portal message is longer, perhaps “more than 100 characters—it needs an appointment,” said Dr. Brown.

A care team member may respond

For patients, “the message that they send should go to the doctor’s team, not directly to the doctor,” said Dr. Brown. “The doctor is seeing patients face to face and when they’re in the office and want the undivided attention of the doctor, the patient doesn’t want to be distracted by the doctor doing other things.”

Update your medication information

Patient portal messages have skyrocketed since 2020. These messages often fall under “the patient medical advisory request category, which are the more time-consuming inbox messages,” said Dr. Sinsky.