impact of patient portal on health care organization

Patient portals may lead to enhanced disease management, health plan retention, changes in channel utilization, and lower environmental waste. However, despite growing research on patient portals and their effects, our understanding of the organizational dynamics that explain how effects come about is limited. Methods

Full Answer

What is the impact of patient portals on patient care?

 · Studies in which a patient portal was combined with further services, such as secure messaging, interactive decision-support or health-related reminders, showed more positive impact on patient outcomes, patient-provider communication, disease management, and patient satisfaction, as a recent review of diabetes portals showed . The interactive guiding and …

How will the incentive program impact patient portals in healthcare?

Background: Patient portals are becoming increasingly popular worldwide even though their impact on individual health and health system efficiency is still unclear. Objective: The aim of this systematic review was to summarize evidence on the impact of patient portals on health outcomes and health care efficiency, and to examine user characteristics, attitudes, and …

Do portals improve patient empowerment?

Significant changes in the patient portal group, compared to a control group, could be observed for the following parameters: quicker decrease in office visit rates and slower increase in telephone contacts; increase in number of messages sent; changes of the medication regimen; and better adherence to treatment.

Are patients and physicians ready for online portals in healthcare?

 · Eligible studies were primary studies reporting on the impact of patient portal adoption in relation with health outcomes, health care efficiency, and patients’ attitudes and satisfaction. Articles included were published from January 1, 2013, to October 31, 2019, and written in English, Italian, Spanish, or French.

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

What are the benefits of patient portals?Patient portals are efficient. ... Patient portals improve communication. ... They store health information in one place. ... Patient portals satisfy meaningful use standards. ... They improve data accuracy. ... Patient portals make refilling prescriptions easy. ... They're available whenever you need them.More items...•

What are the advantages of patient portals to the patient and to the healthcare facility?

Patient portals make tasks such as requesting prescription refills and referrals easier and more convenient leads to greater patient compliance – and when patients follow doctors' orders, clinical outcomes improve.

What are the benefits and challenges of using patient portals?

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.

Do patient portals improve health outcomes?

Patient portal interventions lead to improvements in a wide range of psychobehavioral outcomes, such as health knowledge, self-efficacy, decision making, medication adherence, and preventive service use.

What are the advantages of patient portals to the patient and to the healthcare facility quizlet?

The patient portal supports two-way communication, which allows the patient to work with physicians between patient visits, request appointments, and receive reminders. These reminders can be for appointments, need for follow-up, and more.

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.

Why do people not use patient portals?

About seven in 10 individuals cited their preference to speak with their health care provider directly as a reason for not using their patient portal within the past year. About one-quarter of individuals who did not view their patient portal within the past year reported concerns about privacy and security..

How do you improve patient portals?

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 is the advantage of consumer engagement in their health information and health records?

No Engagement Without Health Information Better understand their own current care and treatment, as well as that of family members in their care. Coordinate care and reduce duplication of services among multiple care providers.

How safe are 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.

Are there any drawbacks to the patient or provider when using a patient portal?

Patient portals pose many security concerns for data, as they may be a potential place for healthcare information hackers or data thieves to access a patient's health data.

How safe are 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.

How does a patient portal help a practice?

When patients can check their health information through the portal, they can let the practice know about any missing or incorrect information in the medical records.

Why is patient portal important?

With routine use, your practice should see higher patient engagement and fulfillment, and a more streamlined workflow that conserves time and effort for staff and physicians.

How do portals improve patient loyalty?

Portals can improve patient loyalty. The continuous relationship and communication that happens outside of appointments inspire patients to feel cared for and to remain loyal to your practice. Raise your value. Patients value straightforward access to information and direct interaction that happens with portal use.

Why do we need patient portals?

Some patient portals also enable patients to plan appointments and handle bills instantly through the system. For providers, they serve as an opportunity to improve patient engagement, increase loyalty, control costs and streamline workflows.

How can patients see their visit notes?

Patients can see their visit notes in the portal. Give patients their care plan details in the portal. Promote privacy to establish them up with their portal accounts so they can interact directly with their physicians. Portals can improve patient loyalty.

Why is it important to share patient data electronically?

The facility to quickly enter and share patient data electronically helps to reduce one of the main distractions, that doctors have during their workday. This allows you to focus more effectively on the patient and the care plan that you need to formulate for your patient.

How many hospitals provide medical records?

According to a paper from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), it was reported that over 90% of hospitals provide patients to obtain their medical records, with 72% of organizations providing patients full picture, download, and transfer capabilities. With that being told, for over half of these means, less than 25% of patients choose and use them.

How does portal impact patient care?

On the impact of portal on patients’ care utilization, we concluded that patients with portal access had no significant change in use of in-person PCP visits immediately after their adoption, and exhibited reductions in care utilization adjusted by their disease burden in about 1 or 2 years later. Such conclusions differ from the results of prior studies [ 7, 8, 38, 39 ], all of which did not incorporate the natural process of disease and disease burden. For these studies, cohort matching was conducted at the baseline level. Therefore, such models cannot closely reflect the dynamics of the time-varying confounders such as disease burden, which has been proved to be critically associated with care utilization. One other caveat of previous analyses is their lack of differentiation between the portal adoption process (the workflow of portal activation) and the natural process of disease (diagnosing, resolving, and healing). In our study, we limited our focus to new patients, which enabled us to have a distinct separation of disease process and portal process. The panel-DID framework was capable of detecting the trend of portal effect which might not be time-homogeneous. In our robustness check, we deliberately included the experienced users who had relatively long exposures to both PCP office visits and portal access. The findings were practically invariant with different inclusion criteria and definitions of users.

How does a patient portal help?

Among them, patient portals are recognized as a promising mechanism to support greater patient engagement by increasing communication between patients and providers , and enabling patients to make competent and well-informed decisions. Empowered by the rapid development of health information technology and facilitated by the US federal government (e.g., the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which authorized incentive payments to physicians who demonstrated “meaningful use” of health information systems [ 2 ]), patient portals are now widely available and increasingly being adopted by patients and providers.

What is the active problem number in EMR?

The active problem list in EMR records a patient’s major health conditions, including both chronic conditions and ongoing conditions that are resolvable but are important for physicians’ to make clinical decisions. The active problem list is typically reviewed and updated if needed at each patient encounter, and is used as a proxy for an individual’s disease burden in this study. Monthly portal access events and clinical service usage of individual patient were generally not frequent, so data were consolidated by quarter. Admittedly, the data set only includes patient ambulatory care utilization within the UF Health network. However, UF Health is the leading care provider in the region under investigation. Additionally, more than 95% of patients in this study were insured. The insurers typically request patients to select their primary care physician (e.g., Blue Cross Blue Shield, Commercial and Managed Care), or seek care with participating providers (e.g., Medicare and Medicaid). These suggest that primary care services rendered to patients outside of the UF Health network would be very limited. Therefore, the primary care utilization within UF Health is used as an indicator of the overall primary care utilization of patients.

What is a new patient in UF?

We further define new patients as who have not received any professional services, i.e., Evaluation and Management (E/M) service or other face-to-face service (e.g., surgical procedure) from the physician or physician group practice (family medicine or primary care) within the previous 3 years in the UF Health network. This definition is in consistent with the Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) [ 31 ]. Because patients were more likely to receive the portal activation code during or after an office visit, there was a resulting mechanical increase in the office visit rate for portal users at the quarter of adoption and its surrounding quarters (trends similar to the figure presented in [ 7] were witnessed). To eliminate the nested effect, we limited our focus to new patients, for whom we can identify the time they recorded a new diagnosis, allowing some assessment of the natural disease process. We used the visit type categorization “New” in EMR to pin down patients’ first-time UF Health encounters. Notably, patients typically adopted portal at the time of their new visits or right after their new visits. To ensure a before-after portal adoption contrast, we only focused on new patients who had their new visits and portal adoption (users only) after Y13Q3. We also excluded patients who were consistent-users and temporary-users. This inclusion criteria led to 15,659 non-users and 5494 users identified.

What is UF Health?

The study was conducted at UF Health, a medical network associated with the University of Florida (UF). The UF Health network includes two academic hospitals and several other hospitals and facilities in North Central Florida. In 2011, UF Health started offering “MyUFHealth,” also known as MyChart® by Epic®. MyUFHealth is an electronic patient portal that provides patients a secure and convenient way to access portions of their medical records (e.g., released test results, after visit summary), communication with the clinical service providers using secure messaging, request prescription refills, and management of outpatient appointments. MyUFHealth is available to patients who are seen in the UF Health network at Gainesville or Jacksonville hospitals and physician outpatient practices. MyUFHealth pediatric proxy for children under 18 years old is also available and can be established in the UF Health Physicians clinics. Proxy access allows a parent (or guardian) to log into their personal MyUFHealth account, and then connect to the MyUFHealth account of their child. Therefore, children under 18 years old can also be portal users in this study.

What is patient engagement?

Patient engagement is generally referred to as a broad concept that combines a patient’s knowledge, skills, ability and willingness to manage their own health and care with interventions designed to promote positive patient behaviors [ 1 ]. A state-of-the-art review of patient portals and patient engagement including topical areas of patient adoption, provider endorsement, health literacy, usability, and utility was presented in [ 3 ]. In particular, patients with access to their personal health records are hypothesized to become more educated consumers of care and better informed to engage in self-management, thereby reducing health care utilization ultimately [ 4, 5, 6 ]. However, research findings drew inconsistent conclusions regarding the impact of portal usage on patients’ care utilization. For instance, it was found in [ 7] that increased outpatient utilization was associated with patient portal registration. Portal registration and usages of online messaging and record viewing were identified being associated with more pediatric ambulatory visits [ 8 ], and the release of test results may produce unnecessary anxiety and increase the rate of patient visits [ 9 ]. Conversely, another set of studies did not find any association between patient portal activities (e.g., secure messaging) and number of primary care office visits [ 10, 11, 12, 13 ], or suggested that access to patient portal can enhance care delivery efficiency and even substitute for some face -to -face health care services [ 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 ].

Is the data from the current study publicly available?

The datasets analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to the protocol. Data are however available from the authors upon reasonable request and with the permission of UF IRB.

How can portals help patients?

Yet, if we can get patients to use them, portals have a lot of potential benefits. Allowing patients to access their records can make them more informed. Asynchronous communication can be more efficient. Having a patient write down their concerns in their own words rather than relying on a third party can improve accuracy. Sending test results electronically can be more timely.

Why don't patients sign up for a portal?

I often ask patients why they don't sign up. Some are worried about privacy; others don't enjoy using computers, forget their passwords, or just don't see the benefits. They aren't thinking ahead to that unplanned emergency department visit where a portal would let them pull up their medication, allergy, and problem lists on their phone for the doctor to see. Many patients are simply more comfortable calling to make appointments and leaving messages. Old habits are hard to change.

How many portals do patients need?

A patient should only need one portal – a comprehensive one maintained by his or her primary care physician (PCP), who shares data with all those specialists and hospitals, gets timely updates, and is great at keeping records.

What are the ethical issues with patient portals?

The security and privacy of personal health information pose the majority of ethical issues with patient portals. However, as technology continues to evolve and integrate into healthcare, other issues may arise.

Why should health care providers conduct a risk assessment when implementing EHRs including patient portals?

In order to mitigate the risk of security breaches, health care providers should conduct a risk assessment when implementing EHRs including patient portals. The following components should be assessed:

How does the incentive program impact healthcare?

With the incentive program in place, healthcare organizations and providers will continue to implement patient portals and adopt them into their practices and workflow. The likelihood is that patient portals will increase significantly. This could potentially have a positive impact on health care. As time evolves, it can drive greater patient compliance and engagement, increased patient connection to a health care system, and increased responsibility for patients taking care of themselves by knowing what needs to be done to stay healthy and improve their overall health. These are outcomes we would like to see, with a patient portal as one of the drivers to achieve that. This is in alignment with the HITECH Act to improve quality, safety and efficiency.

Why are some healthcare providers not using EHRs?

Some healthcare providers elected not to implement EHRs into their practice due to cost. Others phased it in over time, while some took the “big bang” approach to EHR implementation. As Meaningful Use continues to evolve, the program will transition from an incentive program to a penalty program for not meeting the stated requirements.

What is healthcare policy?

Healthcare policy contains several aspects. The aspect of healthcare policy that impacts patients and providers are the actions that the government takes, both federally and state-wide, to influence healthcare service provisions, public health, and the well being of consumers (Kraft & Furlong, 2013). When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ...

What is the purpose of health policy?

From the government’s perspective, the central purpose of health policy is to enhance health or facilitate its pursuit (Longest, 2010). Healthcare policy contains several aspects. The aspect of healthcare policy that impacts patients and providers are the actions that the government takes, both federally and state-wide, to influence healthcare service provisions, public health, and the well being of consumers (Kraft & Furlong, 2013). When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) executed on February 17, 2009, the initial impact was on providers, healthcare organizations and medicare advantage organizations to improve adoption and interoperability of technology. The incentive payments associated with this are part of a broader effort under the HITECH Act (HITECH) to accelerate the adoption of HITECH and utilization of qualified EHRs. As this has evolved, there has been an impact to patients as well.

What happens when patients cannot communicate in real time?

When patients cannot communicate in real time, providers can miss opportunities to identify nonadherence. Thus, there is heavy focus on designing portals and apps similar to MyMeds, which incorporates bidirectional communication between providers and patients.

How does mHealth affect pharmacy?

mHealth could affect specialty pharmacies in several ways. Specialty pharmacies manage patients with rare and chronic diseases that require high-cost and complex medications; thus, it is important to have adequate clinical support. Some patient portals and apps include adherence notifications, adverse effect mitigation strategies, and clinical management of disease and therapy. With secure e-mail messaging through patient portals, patients can quickly report adverse effects or dose adjustments, which may be beneficial when the physician’s office is closed.

What apps do patients use to re-adhere to their medication?

For instance, a patient who wants to increase medication adherence can use apps such as PatientPartner, Medisafe, Dosecast, MedHelper, My Pillbox, or MyMeds. While the variation in mHealth apps caters to patient preferences, the lack of standardization leads to drawbacks for providers. For example, many of these apps either track data differently or, in many cases, do not relay information back to the provider. Patients may record their missed doses through these apps—while refilling their medications on time. This may portray to providers that their patients adhere to their medication even when they do not. When patients cannot communicate in real time, providers can miss opportunities to identify nonadherence. Thus, there is heavy focus on designing portals and apps similar to MyMeds, which incorporates bidirectional communication between providers and patients.

What is mHealth communication?

Communication generally takes the form of secure messaging such as live chat or e-mail among patients and providers , including primary care and specialist physicians, pharmacists, and many others.

Why is mHealth important in pharmacy?

As patient portals and mHealth apps evolve , incorporation of technology in specialty pharmacies presents an excellent opportunity for improving patient care. Ultimately, mHealth technology allows patients to play a role in managing their health and is another form of communication with providers that can lead to better patient outcomes.

What is mobile health?

Mobile health (mHealth) is a means of providing health services or information via portals or applications (apps) on wireless devices, such as smartphones or tablets. Patient portals are secure websites that help patients access their health information at their convenience. Many patient portals are mobile enabled via a web-based platform ...

Is a patient portal a form of mHealth?

Many patient portals are mobile enabled via a web-based platform and are therefore considered a form of mHealth. Patient-focused mHealth apps—software or programs stored directly on the mobile device—can provide an opportunity for patient-initiated health or disease management.