why medical practices need a patient portal

by Makenna Wolff 3 min read

Why is a Patient Portal important for a Medical Practice?

32 hours ago A patient portal platform helps to enhance patient care and also supports strong patient-provider communication without any hitches. Key Features offered by a Patient Portal Software The robust capabilities of the online platform enable to streamline administrative workflows and practices can even realize greater patient engagement and satisfaction scores which is … >> Go To The Portal


The patient portal is helpful for patients to keep track of their medical visits, test results, billing, prescriptions and insurance, among others.Jun 17, 2022

Full Answer

How do you set up a patient portal?

With My Seton Health, you have access to:

  • A Summary of treatment during your hospital stay
  • A list of active medications
  • Your hospital discharge instructions
  • Lab and vital sign results

What is a patient portal and why is it useful?

  • ▪ You can email back and forth with your doctor if you don’t necessarily need an appointment.
  • ▪ I like the fact that I could, rather than calling and running the risk of a note being taken wrong or misunderstanding what I said, it’s there. ...
  • ▪ …it’s a faster and better way to communicate with my doctor about things. ...

What are the advantages of patient portal?

  • Being able to confirm and remember care plans
  • Quicker access to test results
  • Ability to share health information with family members and other relevant clinicians
  • Offering clinician note feedback

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

eventually benefit the interactive patients engagement accessibility solutions in the market. • Access to the patient portal may improve patient engagement and change the way healthcare is delivered, healthcare improvements are associated with specific ...

Why is patient portal important in healthcare?

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 are some advantages to a healthcare facilities use of the patient portal function?

What are the benefits of patient portals?Patient portals are efficient. ... Patient portals improve communication. ... They store health information in one place. ... Patient portals satisfy meaningful use standards. ... They improve data accuracy. ... Patient portals make refilling prescriptions easy. ... They're available whenever you need them.More items...•

Why is the patient portal a good tool for 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 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.

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.

How the patient portal is empowering?

July 18, 2017 - Patients enjoy having patient portal health data access because it allows them to take ownership of their own care, makes them feel empowered as partners in their treatments, and helps them detect and identify errors their providers may have made in their medical records, according to a recent study.

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 encourage patients to use patient portals?

9 Effective Ways to Encourage Patients to Use Patient PortalsFill out forms.Pay bills online.View lab results.Review doctor's notes.Schedule appointments.Receive billing statements.Request prescription refills.Check benefits and coverage.More items...

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 CRM in healthcare?

Your CRM, if set up correctly, can act as a single source of truth about your organization. It can include information about patient outreach campaigns and their conversion rates. Your CRM can also be a place where all patient information is securely stored and accessed.

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 ...

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.

Can a patient have access to their own medical records?

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. But that’s not all patient portals can do.

Can administrative staff copy medical records?

What’s even nicer is that administrative staff, who used to spend a great deal of time copying medical records and updating the audit trail, can now simply direct the patient to their portal so that they can get the information electronically.

Behind the Numbers

When analysts from Texas State University were compiling and assessing existing research concerned with patient portals that were released between 2011 and 2015 they found just a few studies that associated use of the patient portal and its features led to improved outcomes.

Education is a Must

Advocates of patient portals say that with the proper education, most patients easily learn the things that can and cannot be done using a patient portal. Asaf Cidon, the inventor of a secure file-sharing tool called Sookasa and a security expert said of patient portals:

Benefits to a Provider Providing a Patient Portal

Solo and smaller group practices are the health care industry’s version of small and medium-sized businesses. They must balance high-quality care with operational efficacy to stay competitive.

Improving Communication & Patient Service

Often, it is necessary for smaller practices to do more with less. Patient portals help level the playing field by helping these practices efficiently receive and share patient information without the involvement of multiple employees. Portals automate tasks associated with patient portals that include:

Patient Portal Features that Support Patient Engagement

While patients love the ease of communication that a patient portal provides, just having administrative functions on your portal makes it less interesting.

A Word About Security

Actually, several words – security is vital to how you use and store patient data. HIPAA regulations apply to all confidential information so make sure your patient portal is encrypted and has all the safeguards you can muster to avoid being hacked.

Overview

Patient portals improve the way in which patients and health care providers interact. A product of meaningful use requirements, they were mandated as a way to provide patients with timely access to their health care. Specifically, patient portals give patients access to their health information to take a more active role.

Primary Benefits

No matter the type of platform you choose, your patient portal can provide your patients with secure online access to their medical details and increase their engagement with your practice. And not to mention that it does so while providing several benefits for health care providers as well. Some of these benefits include:

Notable Challenges

While many people have used a patient portal by now, they have mixed reviews at best. As you can see in the section above, there are plenty of benefits that patient portals provide. But unfortunately, their potential has yet to be fully harnessed.

Emerging Trends

If patient portals are a mixed bag, why should the patient portal receive greater consideration in the EHR, EMR and practice management selection processes? Because when you look at current industry trends, patient portals are well on their way to improving. Some of these trends include:

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.

Solution Evaluation

Now that you know what a patient portal is and given the potential and growing importance, how should you evaluate the best portal for your practice or facility? You can select a standalone patient portal that a third-party vendor commonly hosts through the cloud as a health care provider.

Final Thoughts

It’s clear that using a patient portal software can provide several benefits for your medical practice. After accounting for these nine considerations, you should be ready to start using a patient portal. The only decision left to make is which platform you’ll use.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

1. Patient portals are efficient. Patient portals allow you and your office staff to quickly deliver lab tests and confirm appointments without repeated phone calls. 2.

What is HIPAA privacy?

HIPAA privacy rules offer protections that grow with children. Parents have full access to their child’s account up to a certain age, at which point teens take control of their own health, often through a portal that makes this automatic.

What are meaningful use standards?

Meaningful use standards provide minimal criteria for securing and delivering electronic health records. Although the term “meaningful use” is now outdated, the ideas behind the term are not. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the goal of meaningful use standards are as follows: 1 Improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce health disparities 2 Increase patient engagement 3 Improve care coordination 4 Expand population and public health 5 Ensure adequate privacy and security protection for personal health information

What is meaningful use?

Meaningful use standards provide minimal criteria for securing and delivering electronic health records. Although the term “meaningful use” is now outdated, the ideas behind the term are not. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the goal of meaningful use standards are as follows:

Is patient portal safe?

Your office cannot simply set up a free website and expect patients to allow their medical data to be posted there! But good news: patient portals are safe.

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, ...

Why is it persuasive to use a portal?

They found that it is particularly persuasive when providers encourage patients to use the portal because patients trust providers and value their opinions. One provider says he reinforces a patient’s use of the portal by closing all messages with “Thanks for using the portal.”.

What is the PHMG strategy?

PHMG had a strategy of ensuring that patients hear about the portal from multiple sources during each clinical visit. To execute this strategy, PHMG used several methods of communication, including:

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.

Why is Qualis important?

Qualis has also been an important resource for information about the meaningful use rules. "We felt strongly that from a quality standpoint we could not succeed without going to electronic health records. I felt very strongly we had to invest in it because it would positively affect every patient that we encounter.".

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:

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.

What is patient portal EMR?

Patient portal EMR software system is a robust platform that can bring immense value across clinical and financial workflows. For most healthcare providers in the United States Meaningful Use requirement was a cause to adapt patient portal solutions which give round-the-clock access to patients to their health data and information.

Why are patient portals important?

Patient portals make patients feel empowered and on top of their healthcare journey which is important to enhance outcome levels. Quick access to patient information 24/7 keeps patients satisfied and they can also share this information with their family members. Portals are powerful systems that keep patients engaged and improves patient-physician relationships by asking and answering important questions about patient’s health information. By deploying this powerful platform practices can develop a strong link with their patients amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and bring value to their care delivery process.

Why are patient portals important?

Patient portals can enable hospitals and their clinicians to deliver higher quality of care. An important capability that any well-designed patient portal will include is the ability for patients to upload user-generated data from their wearables, health apps, and mobile medical devices.

What are the benefits of a patient portal?

One of the immediate benefits from implementing a patient portal is that it can assist providers with meeting Meaningful Use requirements.

How many Americans use EPHI?

80% of Americans who have access to their ePHI use it. Over 60% who do not have access say they want it. 41% of U.S. consumers would switch doctors to gain access to their ePHI. The elderly are also using technology.

Can you use a portal to pay medical bills?

But only if they are done right. If your portal lacks key features (such as the ability to pay medical bills or view lab results), your patients won’t use it. If your portal is frustrating to navigate, your patients won’t use it. If your portal is filled with technical issues, your patients won’t use it.

Behind The Numbers

Older Patients More Resistant to Patient Portals

Education Is A Must

Benefits to A Provider Providing A Patient Portal

Improving Communication & Patient Service

  • Often, it is necessary for smaller practices to do more with less. Patient portals help level the playing field by helping these practices efficiently receive and share patient information without the involvement of multiple employees. Portals automate tasks associated with patient portals that include: 1. Make, cancel, and reschedule appointments;...
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Workflow Support

Patient Portal Features That Support Patient Engagement

A Word About Security

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