patient portal requirements

A robust patient portal should include the following features:

• Clinical summaries
• Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging
• Online bill pay
• New patient registration
• Ability to update demographic information
• Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering
• Appointment requests
• Appointment reminders
• Medication lists
• Lab and test results

More items...

Full Answer

How to create your patient portal?

Aug 01, 2018 · The Patient Portal and Patient Health Record Requirements. Giving patients an electronic method to access their personal health records is already a part of quality reporting requirements in 2018. So, although it’s not new information that providers should offer a patient portal for patients to access information regarding their health, it is important to remember …

How to access patient portal?

Patient Portals, Part 2: What Features Do You Need? Know Your Options. Evaluate your options and create a long-term strategy. By assessing the full range of portal... Registering. Save the patient time in the office. When registration is completed prior to an appointment, patients spend... Secure ...

How to get patients to use portals?

Patient Portal Browser and Operating System Requirements When using Patient Portal, the following browsers are supported: Chrome, Internet Explorer (ver. 9 and newer), Opera, Firefox and Safari The following Operating Systems are supported: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android and Linux

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

Jul 07, 2015 · Under the current Stage 2 requirements, physicians must provide online access to at least one-half of their patients so they can view, download and electronically transmit the data to a third party. This health information must be made available to the patient within four business days after becoming available to the physician.

Are patient portals required?

In addition to being a legal requirement, patient portals aim to improve patient-provider communication and patient education. This makes patients more informed about their health, making office visits more productive and beneficial for patients and providers, as well as improving care.Nov 7, 2014

What should be in a patient portal?

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. Many providers now offer patient portals.Aug 13, 2020

How do you implement a patient portal?

7 Steps to Implement a New Patient Portal SolutionResearch different solutions. ... Look for the right features. ... Get buy-in from key stakeholders. ... Evaluate and enhance existing workflows. ... Develop an onboarding plan. ... Successful go-live. ... Seek out painless portal migration.Jul 2, 2020

What information is excluded from a patient portal?

However, it also had to exclude behavioral health, protected minor visits, research records, business records, and other sensitive record content. The portal automatically downloads or excludes documents based on type or provider, says Meadows, who helped solidify a process for integrating the portal with the EHR.

What is a patient portal system?

A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries. Medications.Sep 29, 2017

What are the five main features of the new healthcare portal?

5 Key Features Every Patient Portal Needs to OfferExcellent user experience. ... Branding flexibility. ... Flexible financing options. ... Loyalty rewards and incentives. ... Integration with existing systems.May 12, 2020

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

Is a patient portal an EHR?

Background. Electronic health record (EHR) patient portals provide a means by which patients can access their health information, including diagnostic test results.

How do patient portals improve nursing practice?

While the evidence is currently immature, patient portals have demonstrated benefit by enabling the discovery of medical errors, improving adherence to medications, and providing patient-provider communication, etc. High-quality studies are needed to fully understand, improve, and evaluate their impact.

What are some of the differences between a patient portal and a PHR?

The Portal is controlled by the source system (EMR/EHR/Hospital). On the other hand, the Personal Health Record (PHR) is more patient centric, is controlled by a patient or family member, and may or may not be connected to a doctor or hospital (i.e. it may be tethered or untethered).Sep 6, 2012

What makes the patient portal different from a PHR?

A tethered PHR, as defined by the ONC, is an online interface tied to an EHR with which patients may view and sometimes interact with their health data. ... A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection.Feb 17, 2017

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

Know Your Options

Evaluate your options and create a long-term strategy. By assessing the full range of portal components, you can then determine which capabilities will best suit your practice.

Registering

Save the patient time in the office. When registration is completed prior to an appointment, patients spend less time in the waiting room and more time engaged in their care.

Secure Messaging

When your patient portal is integrated with your EHR system, secure messaging provides an efficient way to exchange information with both patients and other providers.

Providing Educational Materials

Diagnoses and treatment plans can be difficult for patients to understand and remember. In order to reinforce this information, practices have been giving patients supplemental printed materials for years. And now, with a portal, patients can access these materials online.

Ask for Patient Feedback

It is important to communicate with your patients and ask for feedback about your practice’s performance and services—including your patient portal. In order to get tips from them for making the portal more useful, Ms.

Meaningful use measures

Under the current Stage 2 requirements, physicians must provide online access to at least one-half of their patients so they can view, download and electronically transmit the data to a third party. This health information must be made available to the patient within four business days after becoming available to the physician.

Technology requirements

In order to demonstrate meaningful use and comply with federal privacy requirements, your EHR vendor must ensure patients can access clinical data through a secure and encrypted connection. Data also must be available for download in a standardized format.

How to get patients to use the portal

You may have met the first measure—enabling patients to see their data—but now your patients must actually use the portal to access their data. Here’s how you can encourage use:

Resources to help

The AMA continues to seek less restrictive meaningful use requirements and continues to advocate for changes to the program. Meanwhile, physicians can get help with meeting current requirements by using tip sheets and other resources on the AMA meaningful use Web page and patient FAQs from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.

What is a patient portal?

Patient portals are mainly used to retrieve lab results, ask a question or update patient profiles and insurance providers. Some patient portals also allow patients to schedule appointments and pay bills directly through the system.

How does a patient portal work?

Patient portals can also reduce the number of unnecessary patient visits to your office, allowing you to fit in more patients who actually need to see you. This can help facilitate telemedicine, which enables patients to consult with you through the messaging system. For example, instead of scheduling an appointment to see their physician for a change in medication doses, the patient could ask you about it using the patient portal. Using this feature lets you to keep that appointment open for a patient who either has an illness that requires a diagnosis and prescription in-person or one who needs immediate medical care.

Why are patient portals so popular?

Increasingly, they want better, faster access to their health information, and to be involved in the medical decision-making process. Patient portals are a natural extension of the trend to go online to select a provider or research medical conditions and treatments. They’re going to expect a positive user experience, rewarding those who do with their loyalty .

What is portal in healthcare?

Portals can also be used to provide your patients with billing information, consent forms, educational materials and test results to keep them informed on their health. Sending them educational materials and test results can save time spent explaining every little detail during an office visit.

Why is it important to make sure your solution is HIPAA compliant?

It’s important to make sure your solution is HIPAA-compliant to ensure privacy. You want a secure connection that can provide stored data and guard against data breaches. Make sure your solution meets confidentiality and legal requirements for minors as well.

What should patients be able to do?

Patients should be able to view lab results and track immunizations, medications and allergies. Additionally, they should be able to access personal information, notes and medical history. Many patient portals will provide an online healthcare library consisting of educational resources that can be helpful for patients.

Why do receptionists take phone calls?

When receptionists and other staff in a medical office take phone calls, they have to relay the information that patients give them to the nurses and physicians. This sometimes leads to misinterpretations of patient needs and medical issues. Being able to receive written messages from patients allows you and your staff to correctly interpret what your patients need so that you’re well informed and can make the appropriate decisions.

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.

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.

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.

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.

How many patient records have been breached in 2019?

Through the first half of June of 2019, 25 million patient records have already been breached. Many of these breaches have been caused by hackers, who sell patient records on the black market and dark web. In light of these startling figures, MFA is an eminently reasonable and appropriate cybersecurity measure.

What is an EPHI?

ePHI is defined as any protected health information (PHI) that is created, stored, transmitted, or received in any electronic format or media.

What is multifactor authentication?

Multifactor authentication, known as MFA, requires users to provide multiple ways to authenticate that it is them, such entering as a password in combination with a fingerprint scan, or a password in combination with a code sent to their phone for one-time use.

What is section 1103?

Section 1103 (a), as amended by section 10102 (b) of the same act, directs the Secretary to immediately establish a mechanism, including an internet website, through which a resident of, or small business in, any State may identify affordable health insurance coverage options in that State.

What is a group health plan?

The term “group health plan,” as defined in section 2791 (a) (1) of the PHSA, exclusively refers to health coverage sold to group health plans.

What is the definition of a state in the Affordable Care Act?

Section 1304 (d) of the Affordable Care Act defines “State” to include the fifty states and the District of Columbia. The territories are not included in this definition. We therefore will interpret “State” in the web portal context to mean the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

What is a notice of proposed rulemaking?

The notice of proposed rulemaking includes a reference to the legal authority under which the rule is proposed, and the terms and substances of the proposed rule or a description of the subjects and issues involved. This procedure can be waived, however, if an agency finds good cause for concluding that a notice-and-comment procedure is impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest and incorporates a statement of the finding and its reasons in the rule issued. Section 1103 (a), as amended by section 10102 (b), and section 1103 (b) of the Affordable Care Act provide for the establishment by July 1, 2010 of a web portal through which a resident or small business of any State may identify affordable health insurance coverage options in that State. In order to meet this mandate, we have to collect and prepare for dissemination a broad array of data on issuers, health insurance products, and plans, including administrative and product information for the individual and small group markets; information on eligibility and coverage limits for high risk pools; and information on eligibility and services for Medicaid and CHIP. This cannot be accomplished unless issuers are made aware of the data submission requirements in short order and States, associations and high risk pools are made aware of opportunities to aide in this information dissemination effort within the established narrow timeframes. In order to allow sufficient time for data submission and validation prior to public presentation, we must be in possession of the data that is to be included on the web portal in the July 1, 2010 release no later than May 21, 2010.

What is a small employer?

Section 1304 (b) (3) of the Affordable Care Act allows for a State to elect the option to define “small employer” as an employer who employed on average at least 1, but not more than 50 employees on business days during the preceding calendar year in the case of plan years beginning before January 1, 2016.

Overview

Primary Benefits

Notable Challenges

Emerging Trends

How to Use A Patient Portal

• With patient portals, the first and foremost thing you will need is a computer and a working internet connection. Create a customized user’s account in the software to avail medical services on your own. Once you enter the patient portal, click on links and products sold by the provider and tap into a new experience. Set up the portal according to your needs and receive messages, …

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