patient portal and provider messaging benefits

by Cordelia Bogisich 9 min read

3 benefits of patient portals and messaging for older ...

35 hours ago Sep 19, 2017 · Patient portal benefits include patients’ ability to access their clinical summaries online. Providers can also send lab results to patients via secure messaging accompanied by a brief message explaining the results (for example, “Your results are normal”) and any needed follow‐up instructions (for example, “Come back in 3 months for a recheck”). >> Go To The Portal


What are the benefits of patient portals?

  1. Patient portals are efficient Patient portals allow you and your office staff to quickly deliver lab tests and...
  2. Patient portals improve communication Messaging through a patient portal makes communication easier for both patient...
  3. They store health information in one place Depending on the extent of the provider’s...

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.
Dec 8, 2017

Full Answer

What are the benefits of using a patient portal?

Sep 19, 2017 · Patient portal benefits include patients’ ability to access their clinical summaries online. Providers can also send lab results to patients via secure messaging accompanied by a brief message explaining the results (for example, “Your results are normal”) and any needed follow‐up instructions (for example, “Come back in 3 months for a recheck”).

What are the benefits of cloud based patient portals for providers?

Jul 22, 2019 · What are the benefits of patient portals? 1. Patient portals are efficient Patient portals allow you and your office staff to quickly deliver lab tests and... 2. Patient portals improve communication Messaging through a patient portal makes communication easier for both patient... 3. They store ...

How can secure messaging help chronic ill patients?

Feb 07, 2018 · Patient Portal Benefits Patient Care and Provider Workflow; ... After the patient portal implementation, the enrollment rate and the volume of traffic via secure messaging on the portal have been modest. However, patients and clinicians feel the portal will prove to be beneficial. For example:

Why do medical assistants promote the patient portal?

May 03, 2019 · Patients’ motivation for using messaging included the speed and ease of such communication and direct access to a physician. Messaging was used by patients as an extension of the office visit and supported coordination of care among providers as well as patient collaboration with family members or caretakers.

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What are the benefits of patient portals for providers?

The Benefits of a Patient Portal You can access all of your personal health information from all of your providers in one place. If you have a team of providers, or see specialists regularly, they can all post results and reminders in a portal. Providers can see what other treatments and advice you are getting.Aug 13, 2020

How does patient portal improve communication?

The care team is now able to keep in contact with patients more reliably and ask them direct questions when needed. Using the portal has enabled the organization to be more transparent and interactive with patients, and to proactively send patients the information they need.

Why is patient portal important in healthcare?

Engaging patients in the delivery of health care has the potential to improve health outcomes and patient satisfaction. Patient portals may enhance patient engagement by enabling patients to access their electronic medical records (EMRs) and facilitating secure patient-provider communication.

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

What is patient portal Secure messaging?

TOL PP Secure Messaging (SM) is a robust messaging capability which allows you to securely communicate with your health care team to ask non-emergency health care advice, request Prescription renewals, and receive MTF/Clinic updates and alerts.

How do patient portals improve patient outcomes?

Most of the portal interventions used tailored alerts or educational resources tailored to the patient's condition. 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.Dec 19, 2019

How do you promote a patient portal?

Seven tips on how to promote your patient portal Add a tag line to appointment cards, statements, newsletters, and other communication. An example: “Tired of playing phone tag? Sign up for the patient portal.” Change your practice's on-hold messaging to include information introducing the patient portal.

Which of the following is a benefit of patient portals 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.

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 pros and cons of personal health records?

4 Pros and Cons of Digital Patient Health Data AccessPro: Patients enjoy digital data access.Con: Complicated health info causes concern for patients, docs.Pro: Patients can review info for medical errors.Con: Clinician notes raise patient-provider relationship concerns.Aug 10, 2017

What are the cons 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.Nov 11, 2021

When did PHMG start patient portal?

PHMG launched the patient portal in early 2010. As a first step, the physician champion piloted the portal for about 6 months before it was implemented in one clinic at a time. According to the physician champion, implementation was “easier than expected because everyone was already comfortable with eClinicalWorks, ...

What are the challenges of the portal?

One major challenge with the portal is the multiple step registration process . Patients provide their e‐mail address at the front desk and are given a password to register from home. Some patients fail to complete the registration process after leaving the clinic. Remembering and managing passwords and managing family accounts are also challenging for patients. For example, a parent may log in for one child and then ask questions about a second child. For providers and staff, a challenge is that there is no way to know whether a Web‐enabled patient actually uses the portal and there are no read receipts to confirm that patients have read a message.

What is the PHMG strategy?

PHMG had a strategy of ensuring that patients hear about the portal from multiple sources during each clinical visit. To execute this strategy, PHMG used several methods of communication, including:

When did PHMG implement EHR?

In 2007 PHMG implemented an EHR system, eClinicalWorks, as part of a strategy to improve quality of care and facilitate coordination of care across its multiple clinic locations. In preparing for implementation, PHMG proceeded with:

Is the portal easy to use?

It’s really very easy to use. If you use the Internet, you’ll most likely find the portal helpful and easy to navigate. They found that it is particularly persuasive when providers encourage patients to use the portal because patients trust providers and value their opinions.

Better Patient Communication

Patients are able to utilize the portal to accomplish tasks that would normally require a phone call, or even multiple phone calls.

Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks

Patient portals allow registration forms to be completed electronically prior to appointment check-in, keeping front-office work efficient.

Greater Focus on Patient Care

The ability to easily access and share patient information electronically eases one of the main distractions on physicians’ time today.

Better Patient-Physician Relationships

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.

Improve Clinical Outcomes

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.

Optimize Medical Office Workflow

With a patient portal, tasks that patients would otherwise have to accomplish with staff assistance can be accomplished electronically. By giving patients online access, staff can be freed up from scheduling appointments, writing down refill needs, and answer questions about referrals.

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Why do we need patient portals?

5. They improve data accuracy. Because patients have access to their medical records, it is easy for them to spot inaccurate information and bring it to their provider’s attention. 6.

What are the features of a patient portal?

Some of the features available on patient portals may include: 1 Direct communication with the doctor via message 2 Short video appointments 3 Medical history and records 4 Prescription ordering 5 Appointment setting 6 Bill payment (premium and for medical services) 7 Educational materials, tailored to the patient 8 Lab and diagnostic test results 9 Visit summaries and notes from the doctor 10 A record of immunizations

What is meaningful use?

Meaningful use standards provide minimal criteria for securing and delivering electronic health records. Although the term “meaningful use” is now outdated, the ideas behind the term are not. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the goal of meaningful use standards are as follows:

Why is video conferencing important?

If your practice is in a rural area , or if many of your patients have limited mobility , video conferencing and messaging allows patients to experience the same quality of care.

What is HIPAA privacy?

HIPAA privacy rules offer protections that grow with children. Parents have full access to their child’s account up to a certain age, at which point teens take control of their own health, often through a portal that makes this automatic.

Is patient portal safe?

Your office cannot simply set up a free website and expect patients to allow their medical data to be posted there! But good news: patient portals are safe.

Why do medical assistants use patient portals?

Medical assistants promoted the patient portal as a way for patients to establish a direct line of communication with their provider. Patients registered with the portal can avoid using the BVCHC call center, which receives a large volume of calls.

What is N#EHR?

Patient-Specific Education Resources.#N#EHR has an integrated patient education tool that allows clinical staff to search and select from more than 600 summaries on diagnoses and symptoms and more than 1,000 medications. Materials, which are available and English and Spanish, can be printed out and reviewed with patients at the time of the visit.

What is BVCHC portal?

BVCHC found it helpful to designate point persons for portal enrollment, such as medical assistants, to engage patients one on one. Consequently, providers are not burdened with the enrollment process, but they can encourage patients to use the portal. Moreover, assigning a dedicated triage nurse to serve as the gatekeeper for messages coming through the portal has eased provider concerns about email volume and time required for patient communication.

What is terminal kiosk?

Terminal kiosks. BVCHC is purchasing computer terminal kiosks for use in the waiting rooms to help patients complete the registration process while still on-site so that they continue to be engaged after the patient portal is explained to them and subsequently begin using the secured messaging feature. The kiosks also will be used for patient education during downtime before visits.

What is BVCHC in Pawtucket?

BVCHC is a federally-qualified, Joint Commission-accredited health center located in Pawtucket and Central Falls, Rhode Island. Established in 1990, BVCHC provides a range of services, including pediatric, internal medicine, family medicine, midwifery and obstetrics/gynecology, dental, and behavioral health.

What is BVCHC in Rhode Island?

BVCHC serves as the home and support center for a network of health centers committed to advancing health IT in Rhode Island. Since the health center converted to electronic health records in 2007, BVCHC has supported several implementations by other practices and collaborates with the Rhode Island REC.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

One of the clearest benefits to a patient portal is the added ability for communication between patients and providers, and these benefits are felt strongest with regard to chronically ill patients.

What is portal email?

The portal is just a secure e-mail system that we can use to communicate. You can send me a message and it goes right into your chart, so I have all of your information at hand when I read it and respond. If you use it and don’t like it, you don’t have to continue to use it. Just let us know.

Why are reminders important?

Reminders from providers, and the capability for patients to discuss issues with their physicians, help increase patient engagement and therefore play a role in boosting the patient’s overall health.

Is a patient portal good?

Although this can be viewed as a good thing because patients do have the right to see their own health data, it also opens doors for security concerns. A patient portal may be just one more place for a potential hacker or healthcare data thief to access a patient’s data, leaving that patient liable to identity theft.

What is portal in medical office?

Portals give patients electronic access to tasks that would have previously required assistance from the medical office team. When patients have online access, staff can spend less time scheduling appointments, writing down refill needs, and answering questions about referrals. Ultimately that means a more efficient medical office workflow.

Why are portals important?

In addition to strengthening patient-provider relationships, portals can make tasks like requesting prescription refills and referrals more convenient. This ease of access leads to greater patient compliance and improved clinical outcomes.

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Empowering Patients to Better Manage Their Healthcare

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Patient portalscreate value by giving patients flexible access and greater insight into their care — from scheduling appointments to viewing test results, or even messaging a provider about health concerns. Almost 50% of adults between 65 and 80 have set up an online patient portal, according to a 2018 survey from the …
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Granting Health Data Access to Family Members

  • As older adults manage the complexities of their healthcare, they often rely on a spouse, adult child, or other family member for help. With a patient portal, patients can authorize other individuals to log in and access their health data, giving family members a window into their health — even if they’re not able to come with elderly patients to every appointment. When introd…
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Building A Deeper Connection with Providers

  • Flexible patient messagingfeatures make it easier for practices to keep in touch with patients between appointments. Sending automated phone, email, or text reminders can lighten the load for office staff. These automated messages can notify patients of upcoming appointments, office closures, orders and labs messages, and prescription messages. Patient messaging provides an…
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Better Patient Communication

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Patients are able to utilize the portal to accomplish tasks that would normally require a phone call, or even multiple phone calls. This ability for patients to request appointments, referrals, and prescription refills directly from the portal increases the efficiency of your clinical staff, allowing them to keep their focus on assistin…
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Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks

  • Patient portals allow registration forms to be completed electronically prior to appointment check-in, keeping front-office work efficient. This means that instead of walking patients through which forms to fill out and how, your front office staff can instead focus on the patient in front of them and any questions they may need answered, ensuring that by the time the patient reaches you th…
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Greater Focus on Patient Care

  • The ability to easily access and share patient information electronically eases one of the main distractions on physicians’ time today. Instead of focusing on finding what you need in the patient’s chart or figuring out how you’ll get those records to the provider you’re referring your patient to, you can focus solely on providing a higher standard of care, which is why you becam…
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