how to get patients involved with patient portal

10 Secrets to Get Patients Using Patient Portals

1. Bulk enrollment.. Having trouble getting users to sign-up? Try a bulk enrollment method. Pull the email addresses for...
2. Get the whole office involved.. A recent study published in the Annals of Family Medicine found patient portal use...
3. Promote the patient portal at every patient interaction.. Look at every...

Full Answer

How to get your patients to use your patient portal?

To help, provide training and incentives for providers to connect with patients using the portal. Make sure providers acknowledge when patients use the portal, or continue to use it. Consider creating a canned phrase your providers can use to encourage continued use when they see a patient has used the portal.

How do I enroll in the patient portal?

 · Here are a few tips to help you help your patients and your practice with patient portal adoption. 1) Appoint a portal leader/champion. Don’t have a committee. Instead, appoint one person to understand what patients need from the portal and then make it happen.

How do you set up a patient portal?

 · 10 Secrets to Get Patients Using Patient Portals 1) Bulk enrollment.. Having trouble getting users to sign-up? Try a bulk enrollment method. Pull the email addresses for... 2) Get the whole office involved.. A recent study published in the Annals of Family Medicine found patient portal use... 3) ...

How to access the MyHealth patient portal?

To that end, patients need a compelling reason to visit the portal, while physicians and practice staff need a compelling reason to integrate portals into their work. Successful patient adoption is directly tied to successful provider adoption. With some optimization and workflow enhancements, the needs of both groups of portal users can be met.

How do you encourage patients to use the portal?

9 Effective Ways to Encourage Patients to Use Patient PortalsFill out forms.Pay bills online.View lab results.Review doctor's notes.Schedule appointments.Receive billing statements.Request prescription refills.Check benefits and coverage.More items...

How do you optimize patient portals for patient engagement?

Make enrollment open to all patients. Have staff manage portal workflow and communication before engaging providers directly. Aim to establish efficient workflows and policies, and avoid burdening providers with troubleshooting during initial rollout. The whole staff should be involved in promoting the patient portal.

How can patient compliance with portal registration be increased?

Offer an incentive for patient registration, such as entering the patient's name in a drawing for a prize (such as a restaurant gift card) or offering an incentive (such as a movie ticket or waived co-pay). Host a contest for staff, awarding a prize for the employee who signs up the most new patients for the portal.

Do patients use patient portals?

Among individuals who were offered a patient portal, about eight in 10 were encouraged by their health care provider to use it. Seventy-one percent of individuals encouraged by their health care provider accessed their portal at least once in the past year compared to 48 percent who were not encouraged.

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.

What is the nurse's role in implementation of patient portals in healthcare?

Nurses encourage patients to enroll in the portals, wear buttons to welcome questions from patients and their families, explain the portal's privacy and security features, and demonstrate how to look up test results, send and receive provider messages, and request prescription refills.

How can we improve patient registration process?

Here are some steps you can take to assess and improve your workflow.Assess your practice's waiting room. ... Review your existing digital capabilities. ... Reflect on your patient registration workflow. ... Identify hang-ups in the patient registration process. ... Train staff on patient registration best practices.More items...•

What are the disadvantages of patient portals?

Even though they should improve communication, there are also disadvantages to patient portals....Table of ContentsGetting Patients to Opt-In.Security Concerns.User Confusion.Alienation and Health Disparities.Extra Work for the Provider.Conclusion.

What are the seven elements that must be in place for a safe transition to occur?

Seven elements that must be in place for a safe transition to occur from one health setting to another include: leadership support; multidisciplinary collaboration; early identification of patients/clients at risk; transitional planning; medication management; patient and family action/engagement; and the transfer of ...

Are patient portals easy to use?

Portals provide physicians with a fast and easy way to communicate with chronically ill patients. They are a place to get complete and more accurate patient information. Portals empower patients to take ownership of their own healthcare, so they remain aware of the entire care process.

What is a patient portal?

Patient portals are a hugely useful service that all practices, big or small, should provide. Get the team involved with patient enrollment. Consider the reasons why patients sign up to patient portals, and make the benefits known.

Why do hospitals use patient portals?

More and more practices have started utilizing patient portals in their patient engagement strategies, and have found that they reduce costs, make it easier for patients to get necessary information, and improve recordkeeping. The vast majority of hospitals use patient portals, and smaller practices are starting to come on board.

Why don't patients sign up for a med?

Many patients don’t sign up because they don’t know what’s in it for them. Letting them know that it could save them money and time by giving them instant access to medical records, lab results, and communication with a healthcare professional may incentivize them to sign up.

Why don't patients register for the portal?

Many patients don’t register for the portal because it slips their mind. Having them register for the portal upon walking in allows this process to be done seamlessly within the regular intake flow.

Why is it important to sign up for patient portal?

Ideally, getting them to sign up before their appointment even starts can help improve engagement.

Can a patient portal be accessed on a mobile phone?

Most Internet traffic nowadays comes from mobile phones. Making sure that your patient portal can be easily accessed on one’s phone is an important part of making it easy to use.

What to say when a patient uses a portal?

Consider creating a canned phrase your providers can use to encourage continued use when they see a patient has used the portal. Something as simple as “Thank you for using our portal; we can really see your health matters to you.”

Why do providers promote portals?

By having providers promote the portal, the idea is that adoption rates will go up because they’re being told by their doctor. To help, provide training and incentives for providers to connect with patients using the portal. Make sure providers acknowledge when patients use the portal, or continue to use it.

Do you need a link to your patient portal?

This is kind of a no-brainer, but you’ll want to add a link or button for patients to use your patient portal on your website. Make sure the link / button is easily visible and accessible on all pages of your website. We suggest keeping it out of your main navigation menu (because that’s probably crowded enough) and adding it to the header (top) section of your website. This way it’s easy to find, identify and click.

What is patient portal?

Patient portals are a relatively new way to improve communication between healthcare providers and their patients , with an estimated 92% of U.S. hospitals on board as of 2016.

Why are patient portals important?

These two benefits alone are important for patients who are managing a complicated condition and need to visit multiple doctors.

How to boost patient portal engagement?

Let’s face it: the best way to boost patient portal engagement is to offer useful and engaging content. Use patient demographics and other information such as national health months (e.g., heart disease, breast cancer, etc.) to generate content that empowers and educates patients. Make sure patients understand that lab results and visit summaries will be delivered via the patient portal as well.

Is patient portal lightning fast?

Of course, your patient portal should be lightning fast for desktop, too.

Why don't patients sign up for patient portal?

One of the main reasons patients don’t sign up for a patient portal is that they truly don’t know it exists. Fix that by adding the link to sign up on every bit of correspondence you send, whether through the physical mail or email.

What to do when you have an automated sign in?

If you have automated sign in for patients when they arrive for an appointment, provide a link on the sign in sheet so they can easily register while they wait.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

Other benefits of patient portals include: 1 Better adherence to treatment plans 2 Fewer visits to the doctor for minor issues 3 Increased patient focus on preventative care 4 Easier recordkeeping and safe storage of medical records

What should a portal leader do?

Have the portal leader create a quick cheat sheet or FAQs on the patient portal so that staff members can answer patient questions quickly.

How long does it take for a portal to fall off?

Have the portal leader promote the portal often. So many times what starts out as a successful implementation of something new will fall off after 4-5 months due to a lack of motivation. The portal champion should be held responsible for keeping the patient portal morale up and making sure staff members take responsibility for helping every patient get on the portal.

Is patient portal new?

While patient portals are not new, getting patients to use them is a common challenge. Whether your practice has had a patient portal in place for years or months, getting your patients to use it is what matters most. Here are a few tips to help you help your patients and your practice with patient portal adoption.

Should providers promote the portal?

Providers should promote the portal as the preferred way of sending information to patients.

How to get patients to sign up for a patient portal?

Having trouble getting users to sign-up? Try a bulk enrollment method. Pull the email addresses for any patients who haven’t enrolled in your patient portal and then upload them into the system (you'll need to verify your patient portal has a bulk upload feature). Then send a series of emails to the patients encouraging them to pick a username and password. Some patient portals may also allow you to assign usernames and temporary passwords for your patients to automatically enroll them. Then, send a series of emails welcoming patients to the portal and showing them how to access it. If you use this tactic, remember that some emails are likely to end up in patients’ spam folders.

How to promote patient portal?

Look at every patient interaction as an opportunity to promote the patient portal. If a patient calls in to schedule an appointment, have the receptionist explain that next time they can schedule an appointment online, and even receive appointment reminders by email. When patients are checking out, make sure staff say they’ll be able to pay their bills online. And, before you leave the exam room, remind them that they’ll be able to access any lab results and a clinical summary (or other materials, relevant to your practice) through the portal.

Why do patients use patient portals?

It makes sense — patients are more likely to use a patient portal if it’s filled with useful tools and valuable information that’s specific to their conditions and needs. Instead of searching the web for information of questionable quality, they’ll know any information in the portal is coming straight from their doctor.

Do elderly patients need help?

While elderly patients may need a little more help navigating the patient portal, they’re also your most motivated and engaged users.

Do older patients use portals?

Don’t assume that your older, less tech-savvy patients are a lost cause when it comes to patient portal adoption. The same study we cited earlier found patients with chronic conditions were most likely to engage with patient portals. That means many older patients, who are more likely to have chronic conditions, are probably interested in using your patient portal. Dr. Alex Krist, the author of the study and an associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, debunks the myth that patient portals are only for younger patients : “It was interesting to see that a key patient driver for getting online was the patient having a chronic condition. This meant that older patients were more likely to get online. We are repeatedly told that patient portals are great - but only for younger, more tech-savvy patients. We, along with other researchers, have shown this is not true.”

Is patient portal a project?

Adopting a patient portal is a huge project, and it’s likely to need some tweaking and updating after your first launch. If you add a new feature (like, say appointment scheduling) or update the layout to make it more user-friendly, make sure you advertise these changes to your patients. A patient who initially logged on and was frustrated by bugs or a difficult layout might be encouraged by news of an updated design.

Why is patient portal important?

Patient portals can be great tools for engaging your patients, and can even help save you time when patients use secure messaging. Still, getting your practice’s patient portal set-up and actually getting patients to use it are two entirely different challenges.

What is patient access?

With Patient access, a patient can find contact information for a doctor, schedule an appointment, chat with a doctor, and view their clinical data. More information: Patient access: Provide access for personalized care

How to enhance patient engagement with your healthcare organization?

Enhance patient engagement with your healthcare organization by using patient outreach tools, a patient service center, and the patient portal in Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.

What is the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare?

The Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare administrator uses the Omnichannel for Customer Service app to monitor and manage patient interactions and communications.

What is Azure Health Bot?

Health Bot combines built-in medical intelligence with natural language capabilities, extensibility tools, and compliance constructs, allowing healthcare organizations to give patients access to trusted and relevant healthcare services and information. More information: Azure Health Bot