21 hours ago · Given clinics’ concerns about their low-income patients’ willingness and ability to use a patient portal, we are in favor of these relaxed requirements. One of the most common reasons cited by patients for not using a portal is lack of knowledge or motivation . This finding suggests that educating patients about the portal could help lessen the digital divide and … >> Go To The Portal
Health care delivery factors, mainly provider endorsement and patient … Current research has demonstrated that patients' interest and ability to use patient portals is strongly influenced by personal factors such age, ethnicity, education level, health literacy, health status, and role as a caregiver.
Some patients recognize the role of patient portals in their health care, reporting satisfaction with the ability to communicate with their health care teams and perform tasks such as requesting prescription refills conveniently [3,16].
Patients used portal messaging to request information, communicate needs and concerns, contribute to care coordination, offer feedback [26], compliment health care staff, and express gratitude [30,45]
Promoting patient involvement in health care delivery may lead to improved quality and safety of care [14,15] by enabling patients to spot and report errors in EMRs, for example [6].
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.
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.
The findings, published in the journal Health Affairs, indicate a lack of physician, health system and insurer engagement in promoting portal use—nearly 40% of patients in the study reported not being offered it.
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.
Among nonadopters (n=2828), the most prevalent barrier to patient portal adoption was patient preference for in-person communication (1810/2828, 64.00%) (Table 2). The second most common barrier was no perceived need for the patient portal (1385/2828, 48.97%).
Sharing credentials can lead to multiple data security and privacy problems, including revealing more information than the patient intended, and to health care practitioner confusion and mistakes if they do not know with whom they are communicating.
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.
The truth is, there are a lot of benefits to using a patient portal for providers.Better Patient Communication. ... Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks. ... Greater Focus on Patient Care. ... Better Patient-Physician Relationships. ... Improve Clinical Outcomes. ... Optimize Medical Office Workflow.
Nearly 40 percent of individuals nationwide accessed a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 13 percentage point increase since 2014.
Meet Meaningful Use Requirements The portal must be engaging and user- friendly, and must support patient-centered outcomes. The portal also must be integrated into clinical encounters so the care team uses it to convey information, communicate with patients, and support self-care and decision-making as indicated.
Early studies of patient portals reported patient benefits including enhanced satisfaction, better relationships with their care providers, more efficient medication refills, and improved understanding of their health information [3,4,11,13-16].
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.
But true patient engagement requires deliberate actions, decisions, and attitude shifts for patients as well. The Center for Advancing Health (CFAH) has defined patient engagement as " actions individuals must take to obtain the greatest benefit from the health care services available to them.". (Emphasis added.)
They explain that patient activation refers to patients’ willingness and ability to take steps to manage their health and care. This involvement can only happen when the patient understands their role in the care process and has the knowledge, skills, and confidence to adequately participate in their own healthcare.
You need to set patient portal enrollment as a standard in your practice from their first appointment. Encourage them that it will make future processes, like prescription refills and appointment scheduling more convenient.
Patient portal engagement is a challenge, especially among low-income people, but optimizing for mobile will help level the playing field. Patient portals that are designed for smartphones will further improve patient use of the portal since over 81 percent of people in the United States now own a smartphone.
One area in the patient experience that needs improving is price transparency before patients schedule healthcare services. In fact, the Trump Administration has even mandated that hospitals make this happen by posting the prices for “shoppable” healthcare services online.
The end of June 2019 marked the health system’s go-live with the new technology. To date, the health system has registered more than 8,000 patients to the self-service portal thanks to strategic efforts of the marketing and communications team. In September, the platform processed more than $1 million in payments and now accounts for 28% ...
To make that possible, a health system the size of Integris needs tools to better understand where patients are in their lives and empower them to make the right financial decisions for themselves and loved ones.
Elsewhere in patient engagement in 2019, Integris – the largest non-profit health system in Oklahoma – realized that its billing processes were not attuned to the economic realities many of its patients face when managing the rising cost of care.
Increased Medicaid reimbursement for specialty care would help by encouraging more specialists to accept Medicaid patients. To expand the availability of specialists in rural communities, policymakers could offer incentives and training programs for practicing in them.
Red Tape. Low-income patients and PCPs alike reported that red tape blocks needed care. Physicians often have difficulty getting prior approval from Medicaid for procedures or prescriptions. This was particularly salient for low-income patients who could not afford the service if it were not covered.
PCPs expressed regret that they could not spend more time with patients and acknowledged that the limited visit time got in the way of high-quality primary care. They attributed the problem to declining and insufficient Medicaid reimbursement and a decreased number of providers.
Many low-income patients said they did not trust the health care system, in large part because it had failed or even harmed them in the past. Several patients noted discrimination by providers and said they feared health care institutions because of it. Health care systems could take steps to combat mistrust.
Because appointments were often not available outside normal business hours, they struggled to get paid time off from work and could not afford to forgo income to visit the doctor.
Editor’s note: This is an early release of a web exclusive article for the January 2022 issue of American Nurse Journal.
Several factors—age, race, ethnicity, education, health status, and health literacy—influence portal benefits. A review by Irizarry and colleagues found that non-white patients and those with fewer years of formal education are less likely to register for patient portals than the less vulnerable populations would.
Portals and the devices to access them continue to evolve. Devices available remotely monitor vital signs, glucose levels, and heart rates, which contribute to the integration of human connection and technology.
Nurses occupy the frontline of patient communication. They play a critical role in encouraging patients to use portals by explaining the benefits, demonstrating their use, and providing reliable information about their security. Easy-to-use portals empower patients to access their personal health data and participate fully in their care.