dental website patient portal effectiveness

by Mr. Tommie Harvey III 9 min read

22 Best Dental Websites of 2022 & What They Got Right

15 hours ago Jan 27, 2020 · Here are few things to consider for an effective dental website before you work with your digital partner. The success of any website depends on its web design. Web design is almost a full-time job within everchanging digital landscape. When designing a dental website, the primary goals are to make sure that your site is found in a search engine for your location and … >> Go To The Portal


Effective dental websites provide a navigation trail that lead visitors into various sections of the website. Icons and graphics can be used to provide access to pages that are frequently accessed by patients.

Full Answer

How does patient portal implementation improve quality of patient care?

Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care Spring 2011 Dover, Delaware About Dover Family Physicians Dover Family Physicians adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system in 2008 with a goal of improving the quality of patient care and especially strengthening preventive care services.

What makes a good dental website design?

The use of white space, muted colors, and original photography and videography speaks to the expertise of the practice. At the same time, conversational yet professional copy helps visitors feel welcome and comfortable. Want a site like these? Delmain’s ready to help build your practice a custom dental website design.

How do patients sign up for a patient portal?

After the patient portal implementation, patients registered by providing their e-mail address and within 24 hours they receive an e-mail with instructions for registering on the website. A reminder e-mail is sent after 30 days if patients have not registered. The practice found that it is important to clearly explain the steps for signing up.

What are the best dental websites for booking online?

And once again, one of the best dental websites the year offers online booking. Zen Dental Studio uses NexHealth (our preferred online booking partner!) to make it incredibly easy for patients to schedule a visit.

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How effective are patient portals?

Better Patient-Physician Relationships Patient portals provide the ability for patients to have 24-hour access to connect with their provider by reviewing patient health information (PHI), asking and answering questions, and reviewing notes, making the patient-physician relationship closer than ever.Dec 8, 2017

What are the benefits disadvantages and problems that can occur from using a patient portal?

What are the Top Pros and Cons of Adopting Patient Portals?Pro: Better communication with chronically ill patients.Con: Healthcare data security concerns.Pro: More complete and accurate patient information.Con: Difficult patient buy-in.Pro: Increased patient ownership of their own care.Feb 17, 2016

What are the security issues associated with engaging patients through an online patient portal?

Some of these risks include: reliance on the patient portal as a sole method of patient communication; patient transmission of urgent/emergent messages via the portal; the posting of critical diagnostic results prior to provider discussions with patients; and possible security breaches resulting in HIPAA violations.Mar 1, 2021

Why do you think downloading transmitting patient information from patient portal would be useful to the patient?

By using patient portals, patients can add the required reported information into their EHRs, and have the potential to not only facilitate workflow in the primary care practice but to improve their experience during the primary care visit.Aug 10, 2016

Why is a patient portal important?

Engaging patients in the delivery of health care has the potential to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Patient portals may enhance patient engagement by enabling patients to access their electronic medical records (EMRs) and facilitating secure patient-provider communication.

Why do some patients fail to participate in the use of the patient portal?

The reason why most patients do not want to use their patient portal is because they see no value in it, they are just not interested. The portals do not properly incentivize the patient either intellectually (providing enough data to prove useful) or financially.

Is secure patient portal legit?

That's why we offer the Secure Patient Portal so you can access your health information anytime. The Secure Patient Portal is a safe and easy way for your doctor or clinic to electronically share your healthcare information with you.

How do you keep patient portals secure?

Here are five ways organizations can bring their patient portal security up-to-date and keep their networks safe from unauthorized access:Portal sign-up process should be automated. ... Keep anti-virus and malware software up to date. ... Multifactor verification is a must. ... Protect patient identities with identity solutions.More items...•Mar 20, 2020

How do patient portals contribute to patient centered care?

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.May 13, 2016

What is patient Web portal?

A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries. Medications.Sep 29, 2017

What should be in a patient portal?

Patients choose their top 7 portal featuresScheduling appointments online.Viewing health information (e.g., lab results or clinical notes)Viewing bills/making payments.Checking prescription refills/requests.Filling out pre-visit forms (e.g., intake form)Sending messages to my care (healthcare provider) team.More items...•Jul 24, 2019

What is a good website design?

A good website design isn’t all about fancy bells and whistles: it’s aimed at generating ongoing, targeted, high-converting leads, so you get the best ROI. The design process should begin with an evaluation of your practice in general and its current positioning in the marketplace, followed by an assessment of the online behavior of your potential patients. A professional online marketer or dental marketing agency will also carry out extensive keyword research to ensure your site reaches out directly to potential clients.

What is the most important aspect of a dental website?

The most important aspect of a good a dental website is quality content. The content should directly connect with potential patients, providing them with valuable information. Sloppy content reflects badly on the image of a dental office, and will invariably result in visitors quickly losing interest and looking elsewhere for the information they want. Website visitors, especially mobile device users, tend to scan through text, rather than read it thoroughly, as they search for what they perceive to be the most relevant information. This calls for clear, concise content that gets straight to the point in an engaging way.

Access Practice-Web, Anywhere

Sometimes you need to access important practice information when you’re out of the office. With the Dentist Portal, you can check appointments, analyze production and income, review patient information, monitor patient satisfaction and more, right from your mobile device or computer.

Dentist Portal

Use the Dentist Portal to look at your office’s daily appointments whether you’re in town or out of the office. Also keep tabs on critical production and income statistics like daily production, adjustments, write-offs, patient income and insurance income.

1. Ensure Your Dental Website is Mobile-Ready and Responsive

Mobile-responsive design ensures your website looks great on a desktop or any mobile device by automatically adjusting the layout and scaling text and images to fit a user’s screen. The site opens quickly and features such as tabs, forms, and drop-down menus are easy to interact with.

3. Create Unique and Compelling Online Content

Great content on a dental website is the key that unlocks the door to links, social shares, traffic, and attracting new patients. Focusing on quality content that generates high-quality backlinks to your site is ideal.

Your Grand Dental Website Design Just Got Better

Partnering with a specialist dental website design marketing company that fully understands SEO, mobile-responsive design, and the value of captivating content is an effective way to add value to your dental practice.

1. Time Management Constraints

Time pressures at a dental practice can sometimes lead to poor patient communication. What if a patient arrives late, and hasn’t yet filled out the necessary forms? Or perhaps there’s an unexpected delay with a procedure, which has a knock-on effect and puts your schedule out of kilter?

2. Difficulties in Rapport-Building

As healthcare becomes more patient-centric and personalized, a good rapport between the dental practitioner and the patient is more important than ever in realizing shared health goals.

3. Patient Lacks Understanding of the Treatment Plan

Low health literacy has been identified as one of the major problems in the healthcare system.

5. Language and Culture Differences Affecting Dental Patient Communication Quality

Misunderstandings between patients and practitioners might also be based on differences in language and culture. Geographic and cultural diversity accounts for a wide variety of beliefs, values, customs, and habits, leading to biases and preconceptions which can create significant patient communication barriers.

6. Physical Set-Up of the Dental Clinic Hinders Quality of Dental Patient Communication

The dental practice environment may be an added hindrance to effective patient communication, particularly if it is busy, loud, or distracting in some way. Factors such as the room size, poor lighting, limited privacy, and excessive noise, whether from traffic or people’s voices, may all play a part in helping – or hindering – communication.

Build Better Dental Patient Communication and Relationships with RevenueWell

There are multiple barriers to effective communication, some less obvious than others. Perhaps you’ve chosen the wrong setting to deliver detailed and complex information, made an incorrect assumption about the patient’s grasp of a proposed procedure, rushed them into a treatment plan, or left them out of the decision-making process.

What does testimonials mean in dental?

Testimonials from satisfied patients provide proof that you can deliver on your promises of quality dental care. When your patients talk about the wonderful service, gentle and compassionate care, and stellar results your practice offers, outsiders are more likely to trust the information.

What is SEO for dentists?

SEO is the secret to getting your site to rank on Google, Bing, and other search engines. It's also the key to effective marketing. Let’s look at some of the elements of SEO for dentists websites.

How many websites are hacked every day?

An average of 30,000 sites are hacked into every day. If your site is compromised or unprotected, Google may penalize you or even blacklist your site, and security breaches can hurt your relationships with your patients.

Why do people abandon their practice?

Because people don’t want to call your practice, they may abandon your site if they can’t find answers to basic questions. Building a robust FAQ page gives prospective patients the information they need to move forward and make an appointment. It will also save time for your team, as they'll field fewer inquiries via the phone or live chat.

What should every page on your website have?

Every page on your site should have a call to action asking people to book an appointment or call your practice. Consider including a new patient offer to entice people to call, such as a free cleaning or tooth whitening session for new patients.

What is the About Us page?

The “About Us” page is an introduction to your practice. Used properly, it can position you as a leader in your industry and help you build relationships with your patients.

Why is it important to link to your social media?

Linking to your social media accounts can help your website get a higher number of social media signals, which some have argued play a role in how well your website will rank . The more popular your brand is on social media, the more quality backlinks you will have.

What is call tracking?

Call tracking allows you to see exactly where incoming calls to your practice are coming from. This helps you understand the ROI of your marketing campaigns so you can do more of what works. There are several call tracking tools available, but CallRail is our favorite.

What is lead generation form?

For dental practices, lead generation forms are the contact and appointment request forms on your website. These make it easy for new and existing patients to schedule their next appointment or contact you with a question at any time.

What is before and after photo gallery?

Having before and after photo galleries on your website shows the results of your treatment and allows people to envision themselves getting those same results. (Always get your patients’ written consent to use their photos this way.)

What does SSL mean for a website?

It means that any information transmitted via your website is encrypted and secure. One way to do this is with an SSL certificate. We highly recommend SSL certificates for all websites but especially for healthcare providers like dentists. A security measure like an SSL certificate protects your patients and your practice.

Can a new patient fill out a form online?

Another convenience feature are online new patient forms. Ideally, a new patient will be able to fill out and submit the forms online. PDF forms that can be printed and filled out are better than nothing, but aim for digital forms.

Is HIPAA required for dentists?

HIPAA compliance is a major concern for healthcare providers, including dentists. This is especially important if you will have online forms or online payment options. Keeping protected health information (PHI), any demographic information that can identify a health care patient, secure is more than just good practice, it’s legally required.

What are the limitations of EHR?

The limitations of the EHR and the patient portal have presented challenges, such as the inability to send clinical summaries to patients via the portal. The practice can only move ahead with certain aspects of patient and family engagement as quickly as the system is upgraded.

How long does it take for a nurse to respond to a patient?

The practice established standards for response times of within 4 hours for more urgent questions to 2 days for prescription refills

When did Dover Family Physicians adopt EHR?

Dover Family Physicians adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system in 2008 with a goal of improving the quality of patient care and especially strengthening preventive care services. The practice has focused on ways to use the EHR to engage patients and their family members in their health and healthcare through a patient portal implementation. The practice, located in Dover, Delaware, has four physicians and two physician assistants, and provides primary care to more than 800 patients weekly.

How to get the most value from an EHR?

To get the most value from an EHR, practices will need to invest time in training and preparation. Some customization of the system will likely be needed based on how the practice functions and the individual work styles of the various providers.

Is electronic communication second nature?

For many patients, the use of Web-based information and electronic communication is “second nature”; consequently, they are comfortable using the portal. As one clinician observed, “Lots of patients are accustomed to using electronic communication now. They don’t want to have to pick up the phone anymore.”.

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