patient portal financial benefits

by Rosemarie Hauck DVM 5 min read

The Financial Benefits of a Patient Portal - Nextech

28 hours ago Patient portal adoption can help reduce your overhead costs as well as your staff's workload. In the article mentioned above by Healthcare Finance News, a pediatric practice based in Orlando, Florida, credits their patient portal for helping them triple in size over a two and a half year period while keeping their staff cost increase to only 20 percent. >> Go To The Portal


Patient portals promote more efficient bill pay According to Clain and Moseley’s data, patient portals improve revenue cycle management by allowing patients to pay their medical bills online. As a result, practices receive payment faster, in fuller amounts, and at a higher frequency.

Patient portals promote more efficient bill pay
According to Clain and Moseley's data, patient portals improve revenue cycle management by allowing patients to pay their medical bills online. As a result, practices receive payment faster, in fuller amounts, and at a higher frequency.
Apr 11, 2016

Full Answer

What are the advantages of the patient portal?

Patient portal adoption can help reduce your overhead costs as well as your staff's workload. In the article mentioned above by Healthcare Finance News, a pediatric practice based in Orlando, Florida, credits their patient portal for helping them triple in size over a two and a half year period while keeping their staff cost increase to only 20 percent.

How to use a patient portal?

Apr 11, 2016 · Patient portals promote more efficient bill pay According to Clain and Moseley’s data, patient portals improve revenue cycle management by allowing patients to pay their medical bills online. As a result, practices receive payment faster, in fuller amounts, and at a …

Do patient portals improve healthcare?

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 using a portal?

Dec 02, 2021 · In addition to improving patient health and facilitating wellness, patient portals have the potential to increase information accuracy, reduce duplication and cut down on time spent on patient records, payments and prescription refills. Data The future of health and medicine points to the importance of data.

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What are the benefits of patient portals?

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

Do patient portals save money?

Limit Operating Costs and Save Money In addition, patient portals help to save money. Portals can save time and money by automating basic administrative tasks. Moreover, physician's time is critical but also limited. It's critical to provide the most efficient use of their time while at work.Jun 8, 2021

What are the pros and cons of 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 are the advantages of providing Internet access to patients with a patient portal?

Patient portals have been demonstrated to do the following: improve medication adherence, disease awareness, and self-management of disease, decrease office visits, increase preventative medicine, and increase office visit duration at the patient's request for additional information.Aug 1, 2018

What are the disadvantages of a patient portal?

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

Can patient portals be hacked?

Health outcomes improve. Unfortunately, what makes your patient portal valuable for patients is exactly what makes it attractive to cybercriminals. It's a one-stop shop for entire health records, and identity thieves can make a fast buck from stealing this data and selling it on.

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 are the benefits to having one patient one record?

Researchers can use the data in Epic to track patient outcomes, study disease prevalence and trends, and improve care.Oct 23, 2017

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.

What is a patient portal How will the patient portal enhance the quality of care?

Not only is the patient portal a convenient place for patients and providers to communicate, but it is also the place patients go to understand their personal health. Here, patients can review their care plan so that they can adhere to it more easily and gain instant access to test results in real-time.Jul 21, 2020

What percentage of Medicare payments are value based?

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that an estimated 30 percent of Medicare payments will now be tied to alternative payment models that reward quality of care over quantity of services. The government aims to link 50 percent of payments to value-based care models by the end of 2018.

How much has the number of high deductibles increased since 2010?

Since 2010, the number of Americans with high-deductible health plans has increased by 75 percent. That means today's patients are taking on a far greater share of medical costs. For providers, collecting those payments in time can be a challenge.

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.

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.

What is a patient portal?

Patient portals meet some Meaningful Use requirements. Providing patient-specific educational resources, clinical summaries, and access to personal health information are all components of Meaningful Use that can be achieved through use of the portal. Increase patients' engagement in and ownership of their own health.

Who is Courtney Edelson?

For several years, Courtney Edelson was the Marketing Content Manager at PCC. She wrote for the PCC Blog, and created additional content to keep pediatricians up to date on important healthcare industry news and trends. In addition to being a lifelong writer, Courtney brought nearly a decade of healthcare practice management experience to her work.

What are the benefits of patient portal?

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.

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.

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 to promote a portal?

It can be challenging, at the start, to have patients sign up for and utilize the portal. Having a plan and consistently applying it will help. Here are a few tips: 1 Develop talking points for the front desk team to utilize for promoting the portal at check-in or check-out. 2 Give out informational pamphlets or flyers to patients describing how the portal will support them. Add instructions on how to join. 3 Show posters during the office promoting the portal. 4 Have the provider educate and support portal sign-up while the appointment.

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Collecting Payments, Faster

  • Since 2010, the number of Americans with high-deductible health plans has increased by 75 percent. That means today's patients are taking on a far greater share of medical costs. For providers, collecting those payments in time can be a challenge. The athenahealth study found a positive correlation between greater portal adoption and patient pay yield — the proportion of to…
See more on athenahealth.com

Building Patient Loyalty

  • Portals could also play a role in retaining patients over time. The study found that after an initial visit to a primary care practice, 80 percent of patients with portal accounts returned for a second visit within 18 months. In comparison, patients without portal accounts returned only 67 percent of the time. And portal adopters are more likely to have ongoing relationships with their provider…
See more on athenahealth.com

Unburdening The Staff

  • It's often assumed that digital mandates create extra work. But practices with portal adoption rates above 60 percent report that portals can actually reduce workloads for providers and staff. Here's how: 1. Saving time. A portal's secure messaging system can capture many patient questions that were formerly handled by phone. At one high-adopting practice, a triage system a…
See more on athenahealth.com

Improving Health Outcomes

  • Risk-based reimbursement is coming. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has announced that an estimated 30 percent of Medicare payments will now be tied to alternative payment models that reward quality of care over quantity of services. The government aims to link 50 percent of payments to value-based care modelsby the end of 2018. One key to restrainin…
See more on athenahealth.com