patient portal problems results

by Hudson Kunze 7 min read

The patient portal and abnormal test results: An ...

21 hours ago Two recent studies examined the benefits and risks associated with patient electronic access to test results. A 2013 survey of patients at Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health care organization, found that a large percentage of patients who had used their portal to access a laboratory result in the last year experienced primarily positive feelings when viewing … >> Go To The Portal


What are the disadvantages of patient portal?

Two recent studies examined the benefits and risks associated with patient electronic access to test results. A 2013 survey of patients at Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health care organization, found that a large percentage of patients who had used their portal to access a laboratory result in the last year experienced primarily positive feelings when viewing …

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

Mar 21, 2019 · A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of 95 patients who obtained test results via a portal received no explanatory information about the findings. Nearly half ended up conducting online searches or called their doctors. Another usability issue is that many portals are housed within out-of-date or clunky provider websites.

What is a patient care portal?

Mar 29, 2018 · Many with abnormal results called their doctors. That echoes a 2016 study led by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania. These scientists found that in addition to engaging patients, portal use may increase anxiety and lead to more doctor visits. Brian Zikmund-Fisher

What is Athena patient portal?

Patient engagement is all the rage now days; almost every healthcare facility is implementing or planning to implement some form of a patient portal to meet the needs of meaningful use. This sounds nice but, Here is the problem, well several problems with the current patient portals that are in the market today. Patients have no interest

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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

What are the benefits disadvantages and problems that can occur from using a patient portal?

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 patient portals are failing healthcare and our patients?

Even if a test result isn't recognizably negative, a portal presentation of an uninterpreted report can be painful to patients and certainly unproductive. A recent study found that nearly two-thirds of 95 patients who obtained test results via a portal received no explanatory information about the findings.Mar 21, 2019

What are the benefits and challenges of using patient portals?

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...•Jul 15, 2019

Why is a patient portal important?

A patient portal is a website for your personal health care. The online tool helps you to keep track of your health care provider visits, test results, billing, prescriptions, and so on. You can also e-mail your provider questions through the portal.Aug 13, 2020

Why do some patients fail to participate in the use of the patient portal?

The reason why most patients do not want to use their patient portal is because they see no value in it, they are just not interested. The portals do not properly incentivize the patient either intellectually (providing enough data to prove useful) or financially.

What do patients want from a patient portal?

In order to help you evaluate common portal capabilities, we asked patients which portal features they would need the most: Scheduling appointments online. Viewing health information (e.g., lab results or clinical notes) Viewing bills/making payments.Jul 24, 2019

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.

Do patient portals improve healthcare?

Background. 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 challenges of using electronic health records and patient portals?

6 Common Challenges in EHR ImplementationThe technical ability. ... The cost of use. ... The people. ... The workflow break up. ... The training. ... The concerns with privacy.Feb 22, 2022

What are the disadvantages of accessing your health care online?

Using an online symptom checker or relying on health websites to find out the root of your problem can lead to inaccurate self-diagnosis, which can result in increased anxiety, stress and fear. Heightened anxiety can exacerbate your symptoms and lead to other symptoms, which can leave you feeling worse.Jun 24, 2019

What are the disadvantages of personal health records?

Are there drawbacks to PHRs? Building a complete health record takes some time. You have to collect and enter all your health information. Only a minority of doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and insurance companies can send information electronically to a PHR that isn't part of a patient portal.

Why are portals so complicated?

A big issue for many users is that portals are simply too complicated for at least two opposite kinds of users: those who have low computer literacy, and those who are so computer savvy that they expect the simplicity of an Uber or Instagram app to get a test result or appointment with a click or two.

Is the portal concept slow?

Acceptance of the portal concept continues to be slow, especially within physicians’ offices and small to middle size hospitals. Though these providers implemented portals via their Meaningful Use / MIPS incentives, portals are often not treated as a central communications tool. Patient engagement? Yes…a laudable objective for policymakers — but many physicians already lament the deep cuts in their daily patient schedule that have been created by complex EHR-related obligations. The added work of portal interaction has been the opposite of a pot-sweetener, despite touted financial benefits.

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What is patient portal?

Patient portals are secure websites where patients can view their health records, view test results, send messages to their doctor, and ask for prescription refills. Patients with chronic, or long-term, health problems such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease must often coordinate their care across different doctors in multiple locations.

How does a patient portal help?

Article Highlight: Access to a patient portal can increase engagement in outpatient visits by patients with diabetes and those with multiple complex chronic conditions, according to a PCORI-funded study spotlighted recently in PLOS One. The study showed that portal use was associated with significantly fewer emergency room visits and preventable hospital stays for patients with multiple complex conditions. By increasing patient office visits, a portal could potentially help clinicians address unmet clinical needs and reduce health events that lead to emergency and hospital care. The observational study compared visit rates for 165,000 patients with and without portal access in a large healthcare system that implemented a patient portal.

What is the objective of a patient portal?

Objective 1: no follow-up for study outcomes. Objective 2: 2-year follow-up for study outcomes. Patient portals are secure websites where patients can access their health records. In this study, researchers, patients, clinicians, and other health system staff collaborated to design a survey to understand the drivers of and barriers ...

What is a peer review in PCORI?

Peer review of PCORI-funded research helps make sure the report presents complete, balanced, and useful information about the research . It also assesses how the project addressed PCORI’s Methodology Standards. During peer review, experts read a draft report of the research and provide comments about the report. These experts may include a scientist focused on the research topic, a specialist in research methods, a patient or caregiver, and a healthcare professional. These reviewers cannot have conflicts of interest with the study.

Provide clear instructions

Although many healthcare organizations have offered patient portal access for some time, it hasn’t been until the COVID-19 pandemic that the technology has seen broad consumer utility.

Reporting easy-to-understand test results

Data shows that patients like seeing their lab results, regardless of the outcome, via the patient portal or through an email message. According to a 2017 study published in the American Journal of Managed Care, 77 percent of patients want to see their lab results online via the patient portal.

Keeping an organized call center

Of course, a patient viewing her COVID-19 lab test results via the patient portal may still pick up the telephone. As noted above, she may not understand her result, or might want to follow-up about next steps even if she has tested negative.

How to access a patient portal?

With a patient portal: 1 You can access your secure personal health information and be in touch with your provider's office 24 hours a day. You do not need to wait for office hours or returned phone calls to have basic issues resolved. 2 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. This can lead to better care and better management of your medicines. 3 E-mail reminders and alerts help you to remember things like annual checkups and flu shots.

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

Expand Section. With a patient portal: You can access your secure personal health information and be in touch with your provider's office 24 hours a day . You do not need to wait for office hours or returned phone calls to have basic issues resolved. You can access all of your personal health information from all ...

How much does an e-visit cost?

For minor issues, such as a small wound or rash, you can get diagnosis and treatment options online. This saves you a trip to the provider's office. E-visits cost around $30.

Activate Patient Portal

After the practice invites the patient to the Patient Portal, t he patient receives an email invitation to activate their account.

Access Patient Portal

After the account is activated, patients can log into the Patient Portal anytime through their mobile device or computer.

Navigate Dashboard

Top Menu: Click to access the Dashboard, Health Records, Documents, Messages, or Payments. Click on the Patient Name to access My Account or to log out.

Navigate Health Records

Actions: Click to view, download, send by direct message, or email the summary of care.

Navigate Documents

Documents: Displays treatment plans that requires a signature by the patient and shared treatment plans. Click to view details and optionally download.

Navigate Payments

Practice must be Stripe activated for patients to access this section.

Make Payment

If the patient has Apple Pay, Google Pay, or Microsoft Pay set up, click the icon to process the payment.

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What Was The Research About?

  • Patient portals are secure websites where patients can view their health records, view test results, send messages to their doctor, and ask for prescription refills. Patients with chronic, or long-term, health problems such as asthma, diabetes, or heart disease must often coordinate their care across different doctors in multiple locations. Patient portals may be especially helpful for thes…
See more on pcori.org

What Were The Results?

  • The research team found that patients with chronic health problems who were younger or white were more likely than others to use the patient portal. Among patients who said they didn’t use the portal, the most common reasons were 1. Wanting to get care in person or by phone (54 percent) 2. Not often using a computer with access to the internet (41 percent) 3. Being unsure of what w…
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Who Was in The Study?

  • The study included adults with chronic health problems. In the first part of the study, the research team surveyed 1,824 patients. Of these patients, 56 percent were white, 13 percent were Asian, 10 percent were black, and 10 percent were Hispanic. About 12 percent of patients were 18–44 years old, and the rest were older. In the second part of the study, the team reviewed patient portal an…
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What Did The Research Team do?

  • The research team worked with patients, doctors, and other health system staff to design a patient survey. The survey asked patients about the reasons they did or didn’t use the portal. The team mailed the survey to patients in the health system and analyzed the results. The research team also looked at the patient portal and health records of patients in the health system. Using …
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What Were The Limits of The Study?

  • The study took place in a single health system in California with an established, free patient portal. Results may be different in other health systems. Also, results may be different for patients who must pay to use a portal. Results may also differ for patients who don’t have chronic health problems. Finally, the research team can’t say for sure if patients’ use of the portal caused the di…
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How Can People Use The Results?

  • Patients can use the results to learn more about how using a patient portal might affect healthcare experiences. People who run healthcare systems could use the results to help decide whether to provide portals for patients with chronic health problems.
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