summary of what a patient portal is

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

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How do you set up 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: With your patient portal, you can be in control of your health and care.

How to create your patient portal?

A patient portal is a secure website that allows patients to access their health information and, in many cases, connect with their physician. There are many patient portal systems. One of …

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

 · A patient portal is an application that allows patients to have access to parts of their medical records from their primary care doctor, specialists, or other Healthcare organizations. Patients log into patient portals from either a PC, a tablet, or a smartphone.

How do I access my 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. For access, you will need to set up an account.

What are the features of a patient portal?

Patients choose their top 7 portal featuresScheduling appointments online.Viewing health information (e.g., lab results or clinical notes)Viewing bills/making payments.Checking prescription refills/requests.Filling out pre-visit forms (e.g., intake form)Sending messages to my care (healthcare provider) team.More items...•

What is a patient portal and what are the benefits of such?

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.

What 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.

What do patients want from a patient portal?

Patient portals typically have a lot to offer—instant access to test results and medical records, appointment booking, secure messaging, health-education materials and more.

Why is patient portal important in healthcare?

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.

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.

What do hospitals patient portals enable patients to do?

What do hospitals' patient portals enable patients to do? Schedule appointments, order prescription refills, ask questions, and view test results.

What are the different types of patient portals?

There are two main types of patient portals: a standalone system and an integrated service. Integrated patient portal software functionality usually comes as a part of an EMR system, an EHR system or practice management software. But at their most basic, they're simply web-based tools.

Why do patients not use patient portals?

About seven in 10 individuals cited their preference to speak with their health care provider directly as a reason for not using their patient portal within the past year. About one-quarter of individuals who did not view their patient portal within the past year reported concerns about privacy and security..

What are the challenges of patient portals?

Patient portals are secure websites that give people access to their personal health information from anywhere, at any time....Table of ContentsGetting Patients to Opt-In.Security Concerns.User Confusion.Alienation and Health Disparities.Extra Work for the Provider.Conclusion.

How do patient portals improve patient outcomes?

Most of the portal interventions used tailored alerts or educational resources tailored to the patient's condition. Patient portal interventions lead to improvements in a wide range of psychobehavioral outcomes, such as health knowledge, self-efficacy, decision making, medication adherence, and preventive service use.

Do patients like patient portals?

Eight studies reported that patients or their caregivers want more portal education, training, or support. Two studies found that their participants want human connection as they learn about the portal and how to use it, as well as when they encounter issues.

What is a patient portal?

A patient portal is a secure website that allows patients to access their health information and, in many cases, connect with their physician.

What does Susan see on MyChart?

Susan has been going to a doctor whose clinic uses MyChart for about a year now. When she logs into her MyChart account the first thing she sees is a welcome screen. The welcome screen contains numerous things. There is a notification section. She sees that she got a notification about a new test result. There is also a 'To-Do' section, where she sees that she is due for a flu shot in about a month. Further below she sees a News section, where her clinic has recently posted a blog article about 7 tips for healthy living.

What is a patient portal?

A patient portal is an application that allows patients to have access to parts of their medical records from their primary care doctor, specialists, or other Healthcare organizations. Patients log into patient portals from either a PC, a tablet, or a smartphone. The market for patient portals in the US is expected to reach over $2 Billion by 2020, up from about $279 million in 2012. (Source) Here are some functions and benefits of patient portals:

How many patients use the patient portal?

The data is from 2017 and reports that 52% of patients in the US had been offered access to their medical information by a physician or insurer. Of that 52%, a little over half of patients actually used the patient portal at least once in the year. That leaves us with a large part of the population that either aren’t utilizing a patient portal or are not being offered access.

What are the advantages of a vendor-dependent portal?

1) Clinics who can’t afford or don’t want to pay for a vendor-dependent portal can still get the functionality they need, 2) Patients who seek care from multiple providers can aggregate their health data into one portal.

What is interoperability in healthcare?

Vendors are well aware of this limitation and are working towards providing the ability to bring in data from other Healthcare organizations. This is referred to as interoperability. It is however a work in progress, and various vendors and Healthcare organizations are at different stages.

What is portal in EHR?

In the EHR model, the portal is an extension of a vendor’s core electronic health record system. A Healthcare organization will usually launch the portal at the same time or shortly after the activation of the core EHR. Most of the data that patients see when they log into the portal is only from that organization’s system.

How long does it take for EHR to provide timely access to patient information?

Measure 1: More than 50 percent of all unique patients seen by eligible providers during the EHR reporting period are provided timely (available to the patient within 4 business days after the information is available to the provider) online access to their health information.

What happens if you share portal access?

If portal access is shared between spouses involved in divorce or domestic conflict, patient information could be accessed or used improperly

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 old do you have to be to get access to your child's portal?

If you have a child under age 18 years, you may be given access to your child's patient portal, too.

Can you access all of your health information?

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.

What is a patient portal?

A patient portal is an electronic Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant communication channel between patients and their providers. With the use of the internet, a patient portal gives patients the ability to interact with their medical information.

What is the most important benefit of patient portal?

The most important benefit the patient portal provides is that it helps meet the Stage 2 requirement of Meaningful Use. One criterion of Stage 2 Meaningful Use is that more than 10 percent of all patients must have timely access to their health information within four business days.

How long does it take to get a clinical summary?

Another criterion of Meaningful Use is for 50% of patients to have access to clinical summaries within three business days for each office visit. This requirement can be met by printing out the clinical summary right after the visit and mailing it immediately that evening or the next day. This can be quite a hassle! A patient portal makes it easier by connecting to the electronic medical record (EMR), which automatically shows patients their clinical summary after it has been completed and approved.

Is there fear of change in patient portal?

There is always fear and resistance to change when adapting to a new form of technology. However, with proper motivation and real understanding of the benefits the patient portal can provide, more people will start using it. Given the widespread usage of technology, it is time to take advantage of the patient portal and positively change the way healthcare is delivered.

When did PHMG start patient portal?

PHMG launched the patient portal in early 2010. As a first step, the physician champion piloted the portal for about 6 months before it was implemented in one clinic at a time. According to the physician champion, implementation was “easier than expected because everyone was already comfortable with eClinicalWorks, ...

What are the challenges of the portal?

One major challenge with the portal is the multiple step registration process . Patients provide their e‐mail address at the front desk and are given a password to register from home. Some patients fail to complete the registration process after leaving the clinic. Remembering and managing passwords and managing family accounts are also challenging for patients. For example, a parent may log in for one child and then ask questions about a second child. For providers and staff, a challenge is that there is no way to know whether a Web‐enabled patient actually uses the portal and there are no read receipts to confirm that patients have read a message.

What is a message in patients' own words?

Messages are in patients’ own words and not subject to others interpretation, biases, or attention to detail

Where do messages go in a family practice?

For family practice, messages generally go right to the provider. For specialists, who tend to be out of the office more often, messages go to the nurses or other staff for triage. To facilitate communication, PHMG developed a template for common messages, such as delivery of lab results.

When did PHMG implement EHR?

In 2007 PHMG implemented an EHR system, eClinicalWorks, as part of a strategy to improve quality of care and facilitate coordination of care across its multiple clinic locations. In preparing for implementation, PHMG proceeded with:

How many clinics does PHMG have?

PHMG is an independent medical group with 11 clinics in southwest Idaho, provides both appointment‐based and urgent care. PHMG has 46 health care providers (including 12 mid‐level providers) and averages 200,000 patient visits per year. About half of PHMG’s patients are appointment‐based and half are urgent care. The practice specializes in:

Is PHMG using portals?

Implement New Portal Features. PHMG is not currently using all of the available portal features and will review which additional options to activate, such as publishing lab results on the portal rather than via messaging. PHMG will also consider, focusing on developing a more robust clinical summary that is linked with patient-specific education resources.

Why do we need portals?

Other reasons to implement a portal include: To foster better patient-physician relationships: Portals offer a round-the-clock platform on which both parties can conveniently exchange health information, ask questions, and review medical notes—providing more opportunities to connect.

What to do when your practice is ready for patient portal?

Once your practice is ready for new patient portal software, take some time to consider what functionality is on your wish list. The range and breadth of features a portal offers will vary based on vendor and cost.

Can a patient portal be integrated into an EHR?

It’s very common for patient portals to be bundled into an integrated EHR suite that includes additional medical software applications. Alternatively, practices can choose to purchase patient portal software as a stand-alone or integrated program. Here are the differences between the two types of systems:

Where is the balance due amount on a patient's invoice?

Highlight: The patient’s invoice, with the balance due amount emphasized in red text, is located right above the billing information form for easy reference.

Can a patient reply to lab results?

Highlight: If a patient has questions about his/her results or wants tips from your team on health management (e.g. , how to decrease his/her glucose levels), he/she can instantly reply to your lab-results message through the software.

Do more doctors use patient portals?

Every year, more doctors realize the benefits of patient portal adoption. In fact, the results of surveys conducted by Software Advice show a rising number of Americans are logging onto portals.

Is patient portal Swiss Army?

It’s helpful to think of patient portals as the Swiss Army knives of medical software. Why? They’re just so versatile.

Why is educational content important for patients?

Educational content hosted on patient portals can make it easier for patients to take a more active role in their care. They can have access to relevant information about their conditions, medications, all in one place on the Internet. Patients no longer have to sift through a stack of pamphlets just to get the information they need.

Why is patient engagement important?

Engaged patients have better health outcomes, are more satisfied with their care, and are more likely to return to the organization in the future. Educational content hosted on patient portals can make it easier for patients to take a more active role ...

Can patient portals make appointment reminders?

Time is also spent on reminding people of appointments. Patient portals can make appointment reminders automated, when integrated with your CRM that keeps track of all of these automations, which leads into the next benefit.

How did the Internet impact healthcare?

Now, patients can take a much more active role in their care by having nearly instant access to their own medical records. In the past, a patient had to get medical records by showing up to the doctor’s office and asking them for a copy. Now, most of the information is digitized.

Can a patient portal be integrated with a CRM?

If a patient portal has appointment scheduling and is integrated with your CRM, the patient’s appointment is scheduled and a tag is applied in the CRM making it known that the patient has scheduled an appointment. This is powerful, and nobody on staff needed to do anything to make it work!

What is a patient portal?

The US government defines a patient portal as “a secure online website that gives patients convenient 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection” [5]. The data are managed by the health care organization, and even the most rudimentary portals enable patients to access information like recent doctor visits, discharge summaries, medications, immunizations, allergies, and lab results. More advanced portals enable patients to request prescription refills, schedule non-urgent appointments, and exchange secure messaging (SM) with their provider [5].

Why are patient portals important?

Patient portals seem to offer great potential for higher quality care, but it is unknown whether providers who offer the portals will be able to capitalize on the Meaningful Use, stage 2 incentive due to lack of awareness of the patient portal service [24,25,27]. Measure seven of 17 states requires eligible professionals (EP) to “provide patients the ability to view online, download and transmit their health information within four business days of the information being available to the EP” [2]. In this review, there was insufficient data to associate the use of the patient portal with Meaningful Use.

What were the barriers to using the patient portal?

Studies from 2013 also demonstrated several barriers to use of the patient portal; most common were lack of Internet access and lack of technical support [19,20,22,23]. Another significant finding in 2013 was the association of patient portal use with medication adherence, disease control, self-maintenance of health, and including the patient in the medical decision [16,19,22,23].

How many papers were there in the Patient Portal study?

Ammenwerth, Schnell-Inderst, and Hoerbst conducted a systematic review on patient portals through a pilot study in 2011 [4]. The authors used medical subject headings (MeSH) terms to focus their research on studies that measured the impact of a patient portal on outcome criteria such as patient satisfaction with the provided care, patient empowerment, costs and resource consumption, mortality, or other relevant clinical parameters. The authors identified 603 papers, 13 of which were experimental or quasi-experimental. Of the 13 papers, five studies were deemed eligible and further analyzed, and four of which were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Sample sizes ranged from 6-81 participants. A significant flaw in their research was to include the PHR in their search, which, as mentioned above, is significantly different from a patient portal in terms of ownership and management. The features of the patient portal, such as disease management, SM, and the ability to view current personal medical information, are not only key distinguishing details between the patient portal and the PHR, but they also identify features that align with Meaningful Use criteria in Stage 2. Results of this study showed an association between portal use and the following: decrease in office visits rates and telephone contacts, increase in number of messages sent, changes of medication regimen, and better adherence to treatment. The authors summarized their results as a very small effect of patient portals on patient empowerment.

What is the difference between a patient portal and a PHR?

The ownership of a patient portal distinguishes it from a personal health record (PHR); while the PHR is owned and managed by the patient, a patient portal is owned and managed by the health care organization. A main advantage of the patient portal is that the data are current, while the data in the PHR are current only when the patient updates it . Without a patient portal as an intermediary, the patient would not be able to access the data in the electronic health record (EHR).

Why should patient portals be benchmarked?

While most online patient portal programs are still in their infancy, the overall advantage that they provide will need to be benchmarked to determine how to improve not only the flow of information, but to also provide the patient with tools to take part in their care [7]. To be fully utilized in the future, these applications should be implemented to allow for fewer time consuming encounters between patients and providers as well as to enhance the accuracy of information being exchanged.

How many studies have been conducted on the patient portal?

We identified 26 studies and 1 review, and we summarized their findings and applicability to our research question. Very few studies associated use of the patient portal, or its features, to improved outcomes; 37% (10/27) of papers reported improvements in medication adherence, disease awareness, self-management of disease, a decrease of office visits, an increase in preventative medicine, and an increase in extended office visits, at the patient’s request for additional information. The results also show an increase in quality in terms of patient satisfaction and customer retention, but there are weak results on medical outcomes.