patient portal money spent

How many patients are offered access to a patient portal?

Nearly all portal users—95%—recalled being offered access, though 41% offered access did not use it. Only 5% of patients who said they were not offered access went on to use a portal, though some providers might not have had portal access to offer.

What are the financial benefits of a healthcare portal?

That financial benefit grows for large, multi-specialty practices that can keep patients in-network for higher-margin services. 3. 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.

What do patients with Medicaid and Medicare think about portals?

Patients with Medicaid and Medicare coverage, compared to those with commercial plans, were more likely to skip portal use in favor of having a direct conversation with the physician or someone else at the clinic or hospital. Who’s worried about privacy? Who’s worried about privacy?

What are the challenges of online patient registration?

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.

Why is portal technology important?

How long does it take for a patient to return to the hospital after a portal account?

How does a digital mediator help a medical office?

What is the key to restraining costs and improving outcomes during the transition?

Why do providers like secure messages?

How to manage risk more safely?

What is clinical technology?

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About this website

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 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.

What are the disadvantages 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

What percentage of patients use patient portals?

FINDINGS. Nearly 40 percent of individuals nationwide accessed a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 13 percentage point increase since 2014.Sep 21, 2021

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 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

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.

Why do patients not use patient portals?

The researchers found no demographic differences among nonusers who said that a technology hurdle, lack of internet access or no online medical record was the reason why they did not make use of a patient portal.May 14, 2019

Are patient portals easy to use?

Patient portals streamline the workflow of practice and help it share each patient's medical records with each of them. But, then it has some ethical issues that need to be considered before running one in your practice. Portals make it easy for practices to allow all their patients access to their medical records.Nov 11, 2021

Do patients like patient portals?

Eight studies reported that patients or their caregivers want more portal education, training, or support. Two studies found that their participants want human connection as they learn about the portal and how to use it, as well as when they encounter issues.Jan 25, 2021

How much time do doctors spend on paperwork?

The authors of a new report that collected data from more than 20,000 physicians in nearly 30 specialties described the time physicians are spending on these tasks as “mind-boggling.” Nearly a third of physicians said they spend 20 hours or more a week on paperwork and administrative tasks, according to the Medscape ...Nov 13, 2018

What is ONC cures act?

ONC's Cures Act Final Rule establishes exceptions to allow clinicians and hospitals common sense operational flexibility, including protecting patient privacy and security as well as handling situations where moving data is technically infeasible.

Save Staff Time

There are many ways that a patient portal can save your staff time and effort. Begin by putting interactive forms online that your new patients can fill out from the privacy of their own home.

Increase Patient Engagement and Loyalty

A patient portal will help you increase patient engagement and enhance their loyalty to your practice. When patients find that they can save time by logging in to set appointments or see important data, they will be more involved and will appreciate that you have made it more convenient for them.

Easy Reminders about Vaccinations and other Procedures

Medical providers often have to waste money and time reminding their patients about important upcoming procedures and tests. You can use a patient portal to generate reminders to come in for a flu shot or to come in for a regular test or other type of follow-up care with a minimum of effort.

Key Takeaways

Setting up an Electronic Health Record system is a great start when it comes to improving efficiency, but a patient portal will provide even more benefits.

Why is patient portal important?

The patient portal is one of the most important tools that a provider needs to have a successful practice. It increases patient engagement like no other tool ever has and cultivates a better patient-provider relationship.

What is a patient portal?

A quality patient portal should have a messaging center that patients and providers can use to address health questions and concerns quickly and efficiently.

What are the challenges of office technology?

The challenges that many providers are facing include the quality of technology alongside the overall cost of implementation. Vendors of healthcare technology are taking advantage of providers and their need for these tools at their practice by over complicating and overcharging the process. Providers feel the pressure of spending a large amount of money, time, and energy on the implementation of tools such as electronic health records, billing technology and a patient portal.

Why do people avoid going to the doctor's office?

In the past, patients have put off and avoided going to their doctor’s office because it can become very inconvenient, taking large amounts of time out of their day or just interrupting their lives in general.

Does a patient portal cost anything?

The truth about the cost of implementing a patient portal is that, it really shouldn’t cost anything.

Why is secure email important for physicians?

Use of secure email allowed physicians respond to patients at their convenience and view "inquiries in the context of the full patient record, which they may not have at hand when patients call," according to the report. "All of these can improve provider productivity, which, in turn, can improve practice finances.".

What percent of Summit Medical Group payments are online?

Summit Medical Group, a 500-physician group in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, receives 30 percent of its patient payments via online portals, according to the report. Middleton, for his part, says about 7 percent of payments come through the portal.

Is consumer engagement a high priority?

Kadlec describes consumer engagement "a high priority" for healthcare today, and one "likely to increase as health information technologies, like portals, continue to evolve." She adds that, "as healthcare delivery moves toward value-based reimbursement, patient care and consumer engagement are becoming increasingly intertwined."

Who is Lesley Kadlec?

Lesley Kadlec, director of health information management practice excellence at American Health Information Management Association, says portals "automate and streamline many processes that previously required staff time, such as setting up appointments, requesting prescription refills, asking and answering questions and providing account and billing information.

Why is PHMG monitoring?

Messaging is monitored periodically to ensure that communication with patients is succinct and user-friendly.

How many clinics does PHMG have?

PHMG is an independent medical group with 11 clinics in southwest Idaho, provides both appointment‐based and urgent care. PHMG has 46 health care providers (including 12 mid‐level providers) and averages 200,000 patient visits per year. About half of PHMG’s patients are appointment‐based and half are urgent care. The practice specializes in:

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:

Why is it persuasive to use a portal?

They found that it is particularly persuasive when providers encourage patients to use the portal because patients trust providers and value their opinions. One provider says he reinforces a patient’s use of the portal by closing all messages with “Thanks for using the portal.”.

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.

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, ...

Why is Qualis important?

Qualis has also been an important resource for information about the meaningful use rules. "We felt strongly that from a quality standpoint we could not succeed without going to electronic health records. I felt very strongly we had to invest in it because it would positively affect every patient that we encounter.".

Why do hospitals have incentives?

As a result, hospitals now have a financial incentive to help patients with nonclinical problems — such as housing and food insecurity — that can affect health.

How many people are covered by Medicaid in California?

California is redesigning its Medicaid program, which covers nearly 14 million residents, to dramatically increase social services to enrollees.

How does the ACA affect health care?

Researchers have known for decades that social problems such as unstable housing and lack of access to healthy foods can significantly affect a patient's health, but efforts by the health industry to take on these challenges didn't really take off until 2010 with the passage of the ACA. The law spurred changes in how insurers pay health providers — moving them away from receiving a set fee for each medical service, to payments based on value and patient outcomes.

Why didn't patients take advantage of the ride?

Many of the patients did not take advantage of the ride because they were either saving it for a more important medical appointment, or preferred their regular travel method , such as catching a ride from a friend, a subsequent study found.

Which states require Medicaid to invest in pilot programs?

Only two states — Arizona and Oregon — require their Medicaid health plans to directly invest money into pilot programs to address the social problems that screenings reveal, according to a survey by consulting firm Manatt.

Where did Rita Stewart live?

Temple University Health System helped Rita Stewart get a one-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia's Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Stewart and other patients in Temple's housing assistance program have since stabilized their lives and avoided unnecessary ER visits.

Does Temple pay for social interventions?

Success with social interventions doesn't come cheap. Temple is helping pay for the program; other funding comes from two Medicaid health plans, a state grant and a Pittsburgh-based foundation. A nonprofit human services organization helps operate the program.

What age group is most likely to report no need to use a portal?

Privacy and security concerns were more likely to be cited among patients older than age 40 and within certain demographic groups—Hispanics, for example—when compared with whites. Among those more likely to report no need to use a portal were Hispanic patients and those older than 50, compared with younger white patients.

What is 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. What portals don’t have is a majority of patients using them. Recently reported survey data shows that 63 percent of adults who were insured and made a health care visit in ...

Why did people not use the patient portal?

The researchers found no demographic differences among nonusers who said that a technology hurdle, lack of internet access or no online medical record was the reason why they did not make use of a patient portal.

Who are the least likely to be offered access to Medicaid?

Men, members of racial or ethnic minority groups, Medicaid recipients and patients without a regular source of care were among those less likely to be offered access.

Why is portal technology important?

So under value-based reimbursement, portal technology is beginning to look essential — for doctors to communicate with patients between office visits and for patients to track and understand their health data over time.

How long does it take for a patient to return to the hospital after a portal account?

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.

How does a digital mediator help a medical office?

Freeing the front office. If patients handle appointment requests, prescription refills, and health record requests online, a medical office's administrative call volume can quickly shrink. And when it comes to sensitive topics such as payments, a digital mediator can help: Some practices have found that secure messaging is more effective than phone calls for receiving and responding to billing questions.

What is the key to restraining costs and improving outcomes during the transition?

One key to restraining costs and improving outcomes during the transition? Patient engagement, which requires an active relationship between patient and provider, and patients' proactive management of their own health.

Why do providers like secure messages?

Controlling communications. Providers like being able to respond to secure messages when it's convenient — rather than immediately, when a patient happens to call. Another advantage: the ability to view a patient's questions and his medical record on the same screen.

How to manage risk more safely?

Manage risk more safely by staying connected with patients and keeping them engaged with you and their healthcare.

What is clinical technology?

Technology that supports clinical efficiency while keeping you ahead of industry change.

Collecting Payments, Faster

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Building Patient Loyalty

Unburdening The Staff

Improving Health Outcomes