patient portal usability

by Vanessa Murray V 7 min read

Portals in Inpatient Care: Evaluating the Usability, Use, …

14 hours ago The findings from these three evaluation tracks informed the development of a logic model for evaluation of a patient portal. Usability studies showed that errors encountered by portal users were attributable to issues with system design, assumptions about functionalities, and … >> Go To The Portal


Usability studies showed that errors encountered by portal users were attributable to issues with system design, assumptions about functionalities, and insufficient user knowledge. Patients reported that access to the portal made them feel more in control of their care and able to ask better questions.

Full Answer

How do patient portal users access their health information in 2020?

★ About one in five patient portal users (22%) accessed their health information using both a smartphone health app and a computer in 2020. ★ Patient portal users most commonly accessed their health information through a computer (83%) – six in 10 portal users accessed their health information using only this method.

How to evaluate the usability of electronic patient portals?

Therefore, in evaluating an electronic patient portal, we applied a task-technology fit framework to improve not only usability but also to match the patient work. 54The FITT framework identifies three important relationships to examine: the user-technology fit, the user-task relationship, and the task-technology fit.

What is the difference between individual and patient portal users?

Individuals who access their portal at least once in the past year are referred to as “patient portal users”. Patient portal users who access their health information using multiple methods access their portal more frequently than those who use only one method.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

Patients and health care staff agreed that patient portals helped to improve patient care [5,30,44] Health outcomes Significant association between portal use and health outcomes was not observed in some studies [2,4,20] but was observed in others [54] Patient portals facilitated discovery of EMR errors by patients [24,26,30,54-56] Benefits

What is the advantage of a patient portal for the patient?

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.

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 is the purpose of a patient portal?

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.

How do patient portals improve patient engagement?

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 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.

Why do people not use patient portals?

Disadvantages of patient portals result in these lower rates of use. For some people, they avoid using the portals altogether for reasons like security issues, low health literacy, or lack of internet. Even for those who do access their accounts, there are still other disadvantages of patient portals.

Which 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.

How do patient portals contribute to patient centered care?

Further, portals help providers educate their patients and prepare them for future care encounters. When patients have access to their health data, they are better informed, and have the potential to generate deep and meaningful conversations regarding patient wellness during doctor's appointments.

How would you improve a patient online?

First and foremost, get yourself online!Create Online Patient Portal. ... Improve Collaboration and Communication. ... Make Your Facility Navigable. ... Keep Patients in the Loop. ... Help and Educate Patients. ... Collect Patient Feedback. ... Adopt Technology.

How does a patient portal benefit the healthcare system?

Patient portal use benefits both patients and healthcare systems. Those who use portals are more engaged in their healthcare and experience improved health outcomes. Healthcare systems that offer portals have experienced decreased costs by reducing needless services and excessive administrative burdens.

Why do we use portals?

Patient portal use benefits both patients and healthcare systems. Those who use portals are more engaged in their healthcare and experience improved health outcomes. Healthcare systems that offer portals have experienced decreased costs by reducing needless services and excessive administrative burdens. Despite these benefits, most of the U.S. population does not access or use them, especially elderly populations, racial and ethnic minorities, patients with low literacy levels, and safety net populations. Studies of barriers to use suggest usability issues and a lack of understanding of the unique needs of population subgroups.

Summary

Individuals’ rates of being offered and subsequently accessing their patient portal increased significantly between 2018 and 2019, but did not change in 2020.

Data Source and Methods

Data are from the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS).

Suggested Citation

Johnson C, Richwine C, & Patel V. (September 2021). Individuals’ Access and Use of Patient Portals and Smartphone Health Apps, 2020. ONC Data Brief, no.57. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology: Washington DC.

How to improve patient satisfaction and loyalty?

To achieve better outcomes and improve patient satisfaction and loyalty, providers must use technology that will facilitate continuous dialogue with patients utilizing personalized content and an empathetic tone. That two-way interaction will activate patients to be more participatory and empowered in their care, ...

Why do patients not care about meaningful use?

Patients don’t care about meaningful use and the fact that their provider will lose money if they don’t create an account and actually use the portal. Patient portals are notoriously obsolete and difficult to navigate, and patients often struggle to interpret medical information, such as test results.

Why do hospitals have patient portals?

Most healthcare organizations have implemented some form of a patient portal to meet meaningful use requirements mandated by the federal government. Providers hope that their EHR patient portal will help improve communication with patients, enabling them to intervene before a small medical problem turns into a hospital re-admission, ...

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