3 hours ago · About a third of patient portal users downloaded their online medical record in 2020 – this proportion has nearly doubled since 2017. About six in 10 individuals nationwide were offered a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 17 percentage point increase since 2014. >> Go To The 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; Medications; Immunizations; Allergies; Lab results
★ 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.
About a third of patient portal users downloaded their online medical record in 2020 – this proportion has nearly doubled since 2017. About six in 10 individuals nationwide were offered a patient portal in 2020 – this represents a 17 percentage point increase since 2014.
Results: The mean percent use of patient portals significantly increased from the pre-Stage 2 to the post-Stage 2 period (6.9%, 95% CI, 6.2-7.5; P < .001).
Patient portals are healthcare -related online applications that allow patients to interact and communicate with their healthcare providers, such as physicians and hospitals . Typically, portal services are available on the Internet at all hours of the day and night. Some patient portal applications exist as stand-alone web sites ...
Patient portals benefit both patients and providers by increasing efficiency and productivity. Patient portals are also regarded as a key tool to help physicians meet "meaningful use" requirements in order to receive federal incentive checks, especially for providing health information to patients.
Health care providers in the US are bound to comply with HIPAA regulations. These regulations specify what patient information must be held in confidence. Something as seemingly trivial as a name is viewed by HIPAA as protected health information.
The major shortcoming of most patient portals is their linkage to a single health organization. If a patient uses more than one organization for healthcare, the patient normally needs to log on to each organization's portal to access information. This results in a fragmented view of individual patient data.
Some vendors, such as athenahealth, Epic Systems and Cerner offer patient portals as one module of a complete Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. Other vendors, such as Allscripts and Medfusion, offer patient portals that can be integrated with any EHR.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), in particular the HITECH Act within ARRA, sets aside approximately $19 billion for health information technology. This funding will potentially offset the costs of electronic medical record systems for practicing physicians. Because the conversion to electronic medical records is typically complex, systems often transition to patient portals first and then follow with a complete implementation of electronic medical records.
E-visits (remote use of medical services) may soon become one of the most commonly used options of patient portals. The most likely demographic for uptake of e-visits are patients who live in remote rural areas, far from clinical services.
While there are many benefits associated with the patient portal for physicians, one of the main benefits is the effect it has on accuracy and efficiency within the office. No longer does your office receive an abundance of calls about payments, scheduling, or questions. Patients now utilize the patient portal for these things. Now the office staff and physicians have more time to focus on the crucial tasks they need to complete each day. The patient portal also helps to make sure all patient information is secure and accurate, decreasing the likelihood of misunderstood or miscommunicated information. Even if a patient does call the office with questions, the staff can point them in the direction of the patient portal to get the patient registered.
The patient portal is more than just a requirement for a practice, it is a tool that will help a practice thrive and succeed in providing quality patient care. If you are interested in finding out more about the benefits of a patient portal or seeing a life demo, contact us.
The patient portal also helps to make sure all patient information is secure and accurate, decreasing the likelihood of misunderstood or miscommunicated information. Even if a patient does call the office with questions, the staff can point them in the direction of the patient portal to get the patient registered.
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 that the patient portal is more ...
It’s in the name, but this tool benefits much more than just the patients. The provider and the patient both have a lot to gain from using a patient portal, but what does that look like? Here are some of the benefits of this tool for both patient and provider.
The reasons people don’t use their online medical records have stayed consistent: people said that they’d rather speak to a doctor directly, and that they don’t see a need to access their medical records online. Around a quarter of people said they found it difficult to log in, and 20 percent said they were uncomfortable with computers.
Even as more and more people in the United States start to have access to their medical records online, most are still far more likely to use their computers to log in to patient portals than a smartphone app, according to a new report from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
Apple, for example, has a health records section in its Health app, and it is available to patients at around 700 hospitals. It’s hard to tell how many patients are actually using it: most hospitals aren’t tracking that data, a MedCity News report found, and Apple declined to tell MedCity News how many people use the feature. But one hospital that did have the information available, UC San Diego Health Sciences, said that only a small fraction of its patients used Apple’s health records.
Patient portals are secure websites or apps that allow patients access around the clock to their personal health information over an internet connection. Each patient will have a separate secure username and password, and those can be used to see a wide range of information including: Notes from recent office visits.
Patient portals have already been shown to be powerful tools for increasing patient engagement and empowerment. One report from AHIMA found that patients who access health information via portals or PHRs:
A tethered PHR is an online interface that is directly tied to an electronic health record (EHR), and it allows patients to view and interact with their health data. For example, a patient would be able to quickly see their immunization history or lab results, or due dates for preventative care screenings, safely online. Whenever a patient health record is connected to a medical record, it is considered protected by HIPAA. Depending on who you ask, that definition of PHRs could look very similar to the definition for patient portals.