ideas for new patient portal

Seven tips on how to promote your patient portal Provide informational handouts at the front desk and in the waiting area that patients can read while they wait for appointments. Place a computer kiosk or tablet in the waiting area that allows patients to register for the portal and then use it to complete necessary registration forms.

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How should we encourage patients to use healthcare portals?

Healthcare organizations would also be well-advised to explain to patients that they should be smart about their use of the portals, and discourage the sharing of user names or passwords. Overall, patient risk factors such as password strength, multifactor authentication and password reset policies need to be accounted for.

Is your practice ready for new patient portal software?

To optimize your workflow: Digitizing manual tasks (e.g., billing and scheduling) can free up your staff, allowing them to dedicate their time to activities more directly related to patient care. Once your practice is ready for new patient portal software, take some time to consider what functionality is on your wish list.

How do I get patients to register for a portal?

Collect patients’ email addresses: Patients usually have to provide their email address to register for access to your portal. If you start collecting addresses early in the implementation process, you’ll be able to hit the ground running once the portal goes live.

How secure is your patient portal?

A secure patient portal should enhance the care experience for a patient, while reassuring customers that their PHI will remain private and secure. Providers should familiarize themselves with the security surround their patient portal so they can help convince patients to engage.

What should be included in a patient portal?

A robust patient portal should include the following features:Clinical summaries.Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging.Online bill pay.New patient registration.Ability to update demographic information.Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering.Appointment requests.Appointment reminders.More items...

How can we improve patient portal?

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.More items...•

What makes a great patient portal?

In order to help you evaluate common portal capabilities, we asked patients which portal features they would need the most: Scheduling appointments online. Viewing health information (e.g., lab results or clinical notes) Viewing bills/making payments.

What do patients want from a patient portal?

Patient portals typically have a lot to offer—instant access to test results and medical records, appointment booking, secure messaging, health-education materials and more.

How do you engage patients in patient 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 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.

What are the different types of patient portals?

There are two main types of patient portals: a standalone system and an integrated service. Integrated patient portal software functionality usually comes as a part of an EMR system, an EHR system or practice management software. But at their most basic, they're simply web-based tools.

What are the five C's for correctly entering information into a medical record?

What are the five C's for correctly entering information into a medical record?... Concise. Complete. Clear. Correct. Chronologically ordered.

Why do patient portals fail?

Conversely, most portals greet patients with inadequate functionality, confusing formatting, and hard to understand health data. Patients often lose interest in these portals, unsure of how to take advantage of any of their promised offerings.

What are the challenges of patient portals?

Patient portals are secure websites that give people access to their personal health information from anywhere, at any time....Table of ContentsGetting Patients to Opt-In.Security Concerns.User Confusion.Alienation and Health Disparities.Extra Work for the Provider.Conclusion.

How do you optimize patient portals for patient engagement and meet meaningful use requirements?

Meet Meaningful Use Requirements The portal must be engaging and user- friendly, and must support patient-centered outcomes. The portal also must be integrated into clinical encounters so the care team uses it to convey information, communicate with patients, and support self-care and decision-making as indicated.

What to send to patients to request their next appointment?

Send postcards to patients, introducing your portal and encouraging them to use it to request their next appointment or medication refill.

Is patient portal available?

Availability of patient portals has increased dramatically over the past decade, but many patients have yet to embrace this technology. If they can use the portal to request appointments, view lab results, and communicate with the practice, what’s holding them back?

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.

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 ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Can you have a patient portal?

Yes! Even if you’ve had patient portals on your mind for what seems like forever, it takes time for your patients to adjust and start using a new system. Plus, some of your more infrequent patients may not have been into the office since the launch. Be patient, and keep up all your promotion efforts until you’re satisfied with the numbers.

What to do when your practice is ready for patient portal?

Once your practice is ready for new patient portal software, take some time to consider what functionality is on your wish list. The range and breadth of features a portal offers will vary based on vendor and cost.

How many patients have access to a patient portal?

In May 2019, we surveyed 232 patients and found that 72% had access to a patient portal. That’s an approximately 64% increase over the finding concluded in a similar study conducted in 2016.

What is a highlight in healthcare?

Highlight: Allows patients to send messages from the portal to the healthcare provider in a safe and secure manner. Provides patients with a convenient alternative to face-to-face appointments, telephone contact, letters, and e-mails to send messages.

Why do we need portals?

Other reasons to implement a portal include: To foster better patient-physician relationships: Portals offer a round-the-clock platform on which both parties can conveniently exchange health information, ask questions, and review medical notes—providing more opportunities to connect.

How to request a prescription refill?

Highlight: There are two different ways to request a prescription refill through this portal: click on the “request refill” button on the home page, or go to a separate “Refill Requests” page to view a comprehensive list of current medications and make a specific selection.

Why is it important to separate the "must have" capabilities from the "nice to haves" early on?

It’s important to separate the “must-have” capabilities from the “nice-to-haves” early on, so you don’t waste time considering solutions that don’t fit your requirements or that cost too much.

Can a patient portal be integrated into an EHR?

It’s very common for patient portals to be bundled into an integrated EHR suite that includes additional medical software applications. Alternatively, practices can choose to purchase patient portal software as a stand-alone or integrated program. Here are the differences between the two types of systems:

How beneficial is a new patient portal?

Your new patient portal will only be beneficial if your practice staff and patients know how to use it. Select a partner that provides consulting and onboarding to ensure you are successful with your new patient portal. This way, you can ensure you’re making the most of the new solution and taking full advantage of all the features it has to offer. Onboarding plans typically include details on training, workflow changes needed, new policies, and roles and responsibilities.

How should leading patient portals differentiate themselves?

Leading patient portals should differentiate themselves by providing proficiencies to your practice workflows. Evaluating workflows and enabling new benefits like patient self-scheduling, or pre-visit form completions can deliver significant workflow enhancements.

What is needed before launching a patient portal?

Before launching a patient portal, the entire healthcare team must be ready to support it and to ensure that it is working as expected. But there are likely going to be bumps along the way and all parties involved are going to need to assist in working through them. The provider will only be able to move ahead with certain aspects of patient engagement as quickly as the system is upgraded.

Why is a patient portal important?

A secure patient portal should enhance the care experience for a patient, while reassuring customers that their PHI will remain private and secure. Providers should familiarize themselves with the security surround their patient portal so they can help convince patients to engage. This will also give providers the opportunity to endorse the patient portal for patients who are unsure of its safety. Establishing trust in the online ecosystem is just as critical as establishing that trust in person.

Why is it important for healthcare providers to take control of their data?

It’s critical for healthcare providers to take control of that data, ensuring that they’re managing security and privacy risk, as well as managing clinical and financial risk. But how can organizations find the right balance between giving patients data access, and also keeping that health data secure?

Why is it important to implement a portal?

When healthcare providers implement a portal, it is critical to work with the chosen vendor to ensure that privacy and security safeguards are put in place. Each facility is different, and it’s important to establish security measures that are appropriate for a provider’s size, location, type and current privacy and security safeguards.

Do you have to obtain consent for a patient portal?

Another key aspect to keep in mind though is that providers are not required to obtain consent from their patients to implement a patient portal. HIPAA permits the disclosure of health information to the patient without requiring the patient’s express consent. However, a patient portal is a good way for patients to access their own information and become active participants in their care.

Should healthcare organizations discourage sharing of user names or passwords?

Healthcare organizations would also be well-advised to explain to patients that they should be smart about their use of the portals, and discourage the sharing of user names or passwords.

Do providers need to customize their portal?

Providers should also invest the proper time in training and preparation. Customization of the system will likely be needed, depending on how the practice functions and what the individual work styles of the various providers are and how they interact. Until a vendor fully understands what a healthcare provider needs and wants from a patient portal, it will be difficult to create the right tool.

How do patient portals help physicians?

When used effectively, patient portals can also reduce workload and increase efficiency for physicians and the care team by transferring routine administrative tasks from the care team to the patient. Patient portals can reduce unnecessary office visits and provide a means to more coordinated and less expensive care.

How does a patient portal work?

A patient portal can serve as a valuable tool in enhancing the relationship between patient and physician. By communicating electronically, both patients and physicians gain real-time access to health information, clinical guidance, and billing and scheduling services. The portal benefits not only the patient and physician, but the entire care team, decreasing administrative burden on the physician and sharing the workload with other team members who can answer inquiries, assist with scheduling, and address any other patient needs that do not need to be handled by the physician.

How to encourage enrollment in a patient portal?

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.

What is the 80/20 rule in patient portal?

Follow an 80/20 rule—if you do something the same way 80% of the time, create a speed button or quick action for that task.

What is portal benefit?

The portal benefits not only the patient and physician, but the entire care team, decreasing administrative burden on the physician and sharing the workload with other team members who can answer inquiries, assist with scheduling, and address any other patient needs that do not need to be handled by the physician.

Why is a patient portal important?

Patient portals can improve both patient and physician satisfaction. It is important for care team members to learn how to optimize use of the patient portal to maximize efficiency. Take Quiz. Supplement.

Why do we need patient portals?

The goal of patient portals is to save time and increase efficiency. While there is some time investment for physicians upfront in learning to use the system and setting up appropriate shortcuts, patient portals should ultimately allow you as a physician to engage in. less. busywork—not more—each day.

What are the three most important aspects that a new patient needs to know before coming to their first appointment?

The three most important aspects that a new patient needs to know before coming to their first appointment is what to bring, what to expect and how to get there.

Why do hospitals send welcome packets?

However, this can get expensive because as you add more content the packet’s weight will increase. As it gets heavier, your mailing costs will increase as well. This isn’t efficient for any sized practice.

What happens if you select a doctor or healthcare organization that also happens to focus on their patient experience?

But if you selected a doctor or healthcare organization that also happens to focus on their patient experience, they sent you a new patient welcome letter and packet.

How long does it take for a patient to make a first impression?

Since it only takes one-tenth of a second for patients to form a first impression, you’ll need to ensure that what you tell them is what they want to hear.

Is sending announcements and news about your organization to your patients a best practice?

While sending announcements and news about your organization to your patients is a best practice, it falls outside of this blog post. However, this example is a technically welcome letter from Trident General Dentistry to their new patients from Cosmetic & Family Dentistry.

Can you turn a new patient into a loyal client?

Turning your new patients into your most loyal clients doesn’t happen overnight. But that can’t happen without spending time on your patient experience, which all starts with a new patient welcome letter.

Can you ignore a welcome letter for a new patient?

If you’re a healthcare organization, you can’t ignore or overlook sending new patient welcome letter. Sure, the patient has already done their research by looking at the testimonials you’ve published online. But what you communicate to them on this cover page is the first true impression of your organization.