how to increase usage on patient portal

Do patient portals improve health outcomes and efficiency?

Aug 26, 2019 · Learn how to increase patient portal use as patient portals can be an effective way to improve a provider’s quality of care. By giving healthcare consumers access to their medical information, user-friendly scheduling capabilities and any of the other portal tools, you also give patients a way to connect with their treatment plan and amplify their engagement — both at …

How do patients sign up for a patient portal?

While the rate of portal sign-up increased and patient preferences for using a patient portal are clear, the actual usage rate of MyChart did not increase. These findings are similar to other studies that found that perceived need of a portal does not match actual usage, 22 , 23 and suggests that additional support to actively engage adolescent ...

What is a portal and why do you need one?

Jul 17, 2017 · 4 Patient Engagement Tools Used To Increase Patient Portal Usage 1. Raise Awareness about the Patient Engagement Technology. Does your organization have a strategy for promoting patient... 2. Assign a Care Coordinator. If your healthcare organization uses patient care coordinators to promote health ...

Can genius staff improve patient portal uptake and usage among minority adolescents?

Education and encouragement will increase enrollment in your patient portal. Ease of use and English and Spanish language options will also attract patients. To maintain the urgency to enroll, set up a game, contest, or drawing with prizes to encourage patients to use the portal. Preserve the patient/provider relationship

How can patient portal use be increased?

Here are some ways to encourage patient enrollment: Include information about the patient portal on your organization's website. Provide patients with an enrollment link before the initial visit to create a new account. Encourage team members to mention the patient portal when patients call to schedule appointments.

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.

How do you get patients to use portal?

Here are nine ways to improve patient portal engagement.Enroll at the first appointment. ... Auto-enroll to schedule online appointments. ... Include a link to the portal when patients sign in. ... Link your portal sign up on all correspondence. ... Optimize for desktop and mobile. ... Empower all staff to sign patients up. ... Offer incentives.More items...•

How the patient portal is empowering?

July 18, 2017 - Patients enjoy having patient portal health data access because it allows them to take ownership of their own care, makes them feel empowered as partners in their treatments, and helps them detect and identify errors their providers may have made in their medical records, according to a recent study.

Why do patients not use patient portals?

Disadvantages of patient portals result in these lower rates of use. For some people, they avoid using the portals altogether for reasons like security issues, low health literacy, or lack of internet. Even for those who do access their accounts, there are still other disadvantages of patient portals.

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

Nurses see the portal as an additional service for patients, because it offers them the possibility for asking questions at any time and place suitable for the patient. Some nurses experience an increase in work load, because patients ask more non-urgent questions that otherwise would not be asked.

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 effective?

Patient portal interventions were overall effective in improving a few psychological outcomes, medication adherence, and preventive service use. There was insufficient evidence to support the use of patient portals to improve clinical outcomes.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

The truth is, there are a lot of benefits to using a patient portal for providers.Better Patient Communication. ... Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks. ... Greater Focus on Patient Care. ... Better Patient-Physician Relationships. ... Improve Clinical Outcomes. ... Optimize Medical Office Workflow.

What safeguards are in place for patient portals?

Patient portals have privacy and security safeguards in place to protect your health information. To make sure that your private health information is safe from unauthorized access, patient portals are hosted on a secure connection and accessed via an encrypted, password-protected logon.

What safeguards are included in patient portals?

Patient portals have privacy and security safeguards in place to protect your health information. To make sure that your private health information is safe from unauthorized access, patient portals are hosted on a secure connection and accessed via an encrypted, password-protected logon.

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

Nurses see the portal as an additional service for patients, because it offers them the possibility for asking questions at any time and place suitable for the patient. Some nurses experience an increase in work load, because patients ask more non-urgent questions that otherwise would not be asked.

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.

Why do older patients use patient portals?

Just because your patients are older does not mean they are incapable of using the patient portal technology. The study published in the Annals of Family Medicine found that older patients and patients with chronic conditions were more likely to create a patient portal account, and many of these elderly patients often experience chronic conditions. The patient portal has become a fantastic tool for managing chronic conditions. Since these patients have more appointments to schedule and more lab results to view, the portal can ease these processes and keep them well-informed on their health. While they may take more time to learn the technology, elderly patients are often some of your most engaged patients, so continue to encourage portal use among these older patients as well as your younger demographic.

How to speed up a patient's visit to the office?

To speed up a patient’s visit to the office, let them know of any questionnaires or medical history forms they can fill out on the portal ahead of time. When a patient checks out, be sure to remind them that bills are payable through the portal as well.

What is incentive in healthcare?

An incentive can motivate patients to sign up for and engage with the portal. To encourage use, patients who sign up for the portal within a certain time frame could be entered in a drawing to win a prize or a small discount on a bill for the first one they pay through the portal. If more patients make use of the portal to schedule appointments, ...

What is the goal of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015?

The goal of MACRA is to improve the quality of health care for Medicare patients, and this is accomplished by shifting the payment system from fee-for-service to care focused on results and value. MACRA financially motivates practices to engage patients in patient portal use in hopes that it will improve efficiency and overall population health. Although most practices agree this is a worthwhile endeavor, the process of getting patients to sign up and use the portal can be cumbersome and comes with many challenges.

Is it important to get patients to sign up for portal?

It is not as simple as getting your patients signed up with portal accounts. It is important that you also get them to engage in the content you are sharing with them before ...

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.

Can you schedule an appointment online?

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.

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.

What is patient portal?

Your patient portal can do a lot of things, but chances are that most of your patients do not care about all of the portal’s features. Instead of overwhelming patients with information, tell them about the features that they are most likely to use. This includes things that make it easier for patients to manage their health and to perform otherwise time-consuming tasks online – for example, features that give them the ability to:

Why is patient engagement important?

Patient engagement is a necessary element for the achievement of a better quality of care and it is a critical component of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative to focus on the quality of care. CMS programs like the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, MACRA, are fundamentally changing the reimbursement matrix for healthcare in the United States by shifting the focus from fee for service to reimbursement for quality. Thus, determining the right patient engagement solution has become increasingly important for healthcare organizations.

What is the role of a physician in patient engagement?

A recent survey by the New England Journal of Medicine Insights Council, found that physician buy-in is essential to the adoption of patient engagement technology. Patients are much more likely to use a new technology if their physician wants them to use it. It is important to note that the physician’s role does not end after suggesting a new patient engagement technology, many patients will require reinforcement of the idea. For example, once patients are using a patient portal, their physician should mention the portal at each visit and specifically refer to a feature in which the patient might find value.

How does a patient care coordinator help a patient?

If your healthcare organization uses patient care coordinators to promote health awareness and help patients reach their care goals , you know how integral these individuals are to successful patient engagement technology implementation. Care Coordinators work with the physician and patient to develop a care plan, they communicate the provider’s plan to the patient, and they continually assess the patient’s needs. They also play a vital role in adoption of patient engagement technology by by promoting patient portal features that open lines of communication and streamline care plan management.

How to Improve Patient Portal Engagement

The more patients understand the value of a patient engagement solution, the more likely they will embrace it. If they receive instructions—simple and straightforward—they’ll see the benefits. Equal to patient education is getting providers and staff familiar with the benefits and share them with their patients.

Answer their questions

Being prepared to answer patients’ questions is the beginning of a successful patient portal marketing campaign. Share these answers to basic questions with your patients via email, text, or website.

Educate and Encourage

Education and encouragement will increase enrollment in your patient portal. Ease of use and English and Spanish language options will also attract patients. To maintain the urgency to enroll, set up a game, contest, or drawing with prizes to encourage patients to use the portal.

Summary

Giving patients the tools to manage their care frees staff time and helps reduce administrative tasks. Most of all, you can continue to nurture the component that keeps your practice going forward—the relationship between providers and patients.