meaningful use patient portal access

In order to meet the Meaningful Use Core Objective surrounding patient access, healthcare organizations must implement a patient portal: this is a secure, online service that gives patients the ability to access their health information anytime, from anywhere.

Full Answer

How do you benefit from your patient portal?

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) financial incentives for “meaningful use” (MU) 1 likely will persuade many reluctant doctors to adopt electronic health records (EHRs). 2 However, there are strong concerns about whether most physicians will be able adopt and utilize these EHRs to meet MU standards. 2–5 These concerns may be greatest for regulations …

How to get your patients to use your patient portal?

Oct 31, 2016 · The NextMD patient portal was rolled out in August 2010 and serves three core functions: 1) Providing patients with an electronic clinical summary, 2) Providing timely access to lab results, and 3) Providing secure messaging with clinical and office staff. Key areas of Patient Portal implementation include overviews and findings related to: Adoption

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

Sep 21, 2021 · Patient portal users who access their health information using multiple methods access their portal more frequently than those who use only one method. FINDINGS ★ Among patient portal users who accessed their portal 6 or more times in 2020, 45 percent used both a computer and a smartphone health app compared to 22 percent who used only a computer …

What is the value of a patient portal?

Many physicians are adopting patient portals in response to governmental incentives for meaningful use (MU), but the stage 2 requirements for portal use may be particularly challenging for newer electronic health record (EHR) users. This study examined enrollment, use based on MU requirements, and s …

How do I access patient portal?

1:438:41How to use a patient portal - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou access the portal through your medical center's website the portal website or you can save it asMoreYou access the portal through your medical center's website the portal website or you can save it as a favorite to your device. From my medical center's.

What information can be accessed through a patient portal?

The features of patient portals may vary, but typically you can securely view and print portions of your medical record, including recent doctor visits, discharge summaries, medications, immunizations, allergies, and most lab results anytime and from anywhere you have Web access.

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 types of patient portals are there?

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.Feb 12, 2021

What is meaningful use?

'Meaningful Use' is the general term for the Center of Medicare and Medicaid's (CMS's) electronic health record (EHR) incentive programs that provide financial benefits to healthcare providers who use appropriate EHR technologies in meaningful ways; ways that benefit patients and providers alike.

What is the meaningful use mandate part of?

With the introduction of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), the Medicare EHR Incentive Program, commonly referred to as meaningful use, was transitioned to become one of the four components of the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), which itself is part of MACRA.Oct 22, 2019

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.Feb 17, 2016

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...•Jun 25, 2020

How do patient portals benefit patients?

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 duties of a portal in hospital?

The Portal Enrollment Specialist uses resources to anticipate, address, and overcome barriers to care and to guide patients through the health care system. Portal Enrollment Specialist may assist patients by updating demographic and pharmacy information.

Why do patients not use patient portals?

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.Nov 11, 2021

What is portal message?

Portal messages are a secure, optional messaging tool built into the patient portal. Patient portal users can exchange messages with their pediatric practice, and the practice can receive and send portal messages with PCC EHR or pocketPCC.Jul 1, 2021

Summary

Individuals’ rates of being offered and subsequently accessing their patient portal increased significantly between 2018 and 2019, but did not change in 2020.

Data Source and Methods

Data are from the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS).

Suggested Citation

Johnson C, Richwine C, & Patel V. (September 2021). Individuals’ Access and Use of Patient Portals and Smartphone Health Apps, 2020. ONC Data Brief, no.57. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: Washington DC.

Why do caregivers use patient portals?

While most caregivers adopt patient portals just because MU requires it, portals can bring value across clinical and financial dimensions. For many providers, Meaningful Use was the trigger to adopt patient portals, the main function of which is to give patients timely access to their health information. However, there is more to that.

How do portals help providers?

Instead, they need to see and harness the other benefits portals provide. Portals can yield actual value for providers by boosting clinical and financial outcomes. They have the potential to drive patient engagement, patient satisfaction, loyalty, retention, and health outcomes. This is how it can be done.

Why is it important to make portals work?

3. Make Portals Work Both Ways. To boost adherence to treatment plans, self-management, and health literacy, patients need to receive feedback from their providers.

What are the steps that providers should take to improve patient engagement?

Some key actions that providers should take to improve patient engagement is to implement proactive and engaging features as well as promote and expedite portal use.

What are the key issues that concern providers?

One of the key issues that concerns providers is the difficulty of increasing patient engagement and the use of patient portals. Having patients be more aware and have more control over their own health is necessary to ensure better patient outcomes and quality of care.

What is EHR incentive?

The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs encourage patient involvement in their health care. Online access to health information allows patients to make informed decisions about their care and share their most recent clinical information with other health care providers and personal caregivers.

Can a provider withhold information from a patient's website?

However, the provider may withhold any information from online disclosure if he or she believes that providing such information may result in significant harm.

Can a patient opt out of health information?

A: A patient can choose not to access their health information, or “opt-out.” Patients cannot be removed from the denominator for opting out of receiving access. If a patient opts out, a provider may count them in the numerator if they have been given all the information necessary to opt back in without requiring any follow up action from the provider, including, but not limited to, a user ID and password, information on the patient website, and how to create an account.

Does CMS require growth charts?

However, because this certification capability is not required, eligible professionals and hospitals do not need to generate and make growth charts available in order to meet the objective.

What is a patient portal?

Background: Patient access to their medical records through patient portals (PPs) facilitates information exchange and provision of quality health care. Understanding factors that characterize patients with limited access to and use of PPs is needed.

What are the factors that affect access to PPs?

Gender, education, marital status, and having a regular clinician were factors associated with access, facilitators of use, and use of PPs ( Table 2 ). Age, language proficiency, and having health insurance were also associated with PPs access and use but not race and ethnicity.