your job is to teach patients how to use the patient portal

For example, at check-in and check-out the receptionist, medical assistant, or nurse can teach patients about the portal and offer to sign them up on the spot using a kiosk, tablet, or registrar computer. athenahealth 14 | From the field

Full Answer

What is the purpose of patient portal?

Apr 25, 2018 · The patient portal in your optometric practice provides many benefits for your patients. With your patient portal, your patients can securely send and receive messages, schedule appointments, complete pre-appointment paperwork, receive appointment summaries, and more. There’s only one problem—getting your patients to use the patient portal.

How can I use the portal to improve patient engagement?

If your practice’s portal is not intuitive or if it is too cumbersome to move through the options, you’ll find your patients will avoid using it. “Our portal is provided by one of several third-party vendors that work directly with our EHR vendor,” said Ms. Woodke. “I like the fact that I do not have to use or stay with a specific portal if it is not user friendly or cost-effective. The feedback …

Is it hard to get patients to enroll in portals?

May 31, 2019 · Build in-office portal registration into your care delivery workflow. Get staff buy-in and communicate benefits of the portal to patients. Enrollment is the first step to engagement. In signing up for the portal, becoming familiar with it, and committing to using it, patients take an active step in managing their health and care.

How do you encourage patients to engage?

Constant Communication. The second benefit to improving patient access in your practice is improving your communication with patients. This is especially relevant to those patients who are chronically ill. Chronically ill patients require a lot more attention and feedback. Naturally, when people are very sick, there’s a lot more medication ...

How do you engage patients in patient portal?

Here are nine ways to improve patient portal engagement.Enroll at the first appointment. ... Auto-enroll to schedule online appointments. ... Include a link to the portal when patients sign in. ... Link your portal sign up on all correspondence. ... Optimize for desktop and mobile. ... Empower all staff to sign patients up. ... Offer incentives.More items...•Aug 12, 2019

What must be done when creating a patient portal?

4 Steps to Successful Patient Portal Adoption, IntegrationOutline clinic or hospital needs, goals.Select a patient portal vendor.Create provider buy-in.Market the patient portal to end-users.Jun 6, 2017

What is the role of an HIM professional with regards to patient portals?

The HIM professional's role will be to help manage that access portal and to help patients manage the information held within it.

What is the nurse's role in implementation of patient portals in healthcare?

Nurses see the portal as an additional service for patients, because it offers them the possibility for asking questions at any time and place suitable for the patient. Some nurses experience an increase in work load, because patients ask more non-urgent questions that otherwise would not be asked.Jun 15, 2012

How do you set up a patient portal system?

How do I sign up for the Patient Portal?Click this link.Select “Sign Up Today” in the lower left-hand corner.Follow the steps to enter your information, verify your identity, and set your password.That's it! ... Allow family members to manage your care.View test and lab results.Request or schedule appointments.More items...•Apr 11, 2017

What elements should be incorporated into a patient portal?

A robust patient portal should include the following features:Clinical summaries.Secure (HIPAA-compliant) messaging.Online bill pay.New patient registration.Ability to update demographic information.Prescription renewals and contact lens ordering.Appointment requests.Appointment reminders.More items...

What is the role of an HIM professional?

Health information managers (HIM) organize, oversee, and protect patient health information data which includes symptoms, diagnoses, medical histories, test results, and procedures.

How HIM professionals play a significant role in the quality and patient safety initiatives?

HIM professionals make a difference by advancing the effective use of personal health records or patient portals and serving as a health information advocate on behalf of patients. Consumer access to health information can greatly enhance safety, facilitate patient engagement, and improve continuity of care.

Why is the interaction between nursing and HIM so important for quality patient care?

Nursing informaticists can reduce the chance of medical errors in a healthcare organization, together with associated costs. A combination of staff training, process improvement, and best practice will enhance the quality of care and limit patient risks.Jan 23, 2019

How do patient portals improve nursing practice?

While the evidence is currently immature, patient portals have demonstrated benefit by enabling the discovery of medical errors, improving adherence to medications, and providing patient-provider communication, etc. High-quality studies are needed to fully understand, improve, and evaluate their impact.

What is a patient portal How will the patient portal enhance the quality of care?

Not only is the patient portal a convenient place for patients and providers to communicate, but it is also the place patients go to understand their personal health. Here, patients can review their care plan so that they can adhere to it more easily and gain instant access to test results in real-time.Jul 21, 2020

Is a patient portal an EHR?

Electronic health record (EHR) patient portals provide a means by which patients can access their health information, including diagnostic test results. Little is known about portal usage by emergency department (ED) patients.

Benefits of a Patient Portal

Staff will spend less time on data entry. When you consider that registration information must be provided by every patient, you quickly realize the enormous amount of time your office staff spends entering that data into your computer system.

Portals and EHR Meaningful Use

With 2014 just around the corner, practices that are moving on to Stage 2 of the federal meaningful use (MU) incentive program must prepare to meet the new re-quirements.

Get Prepared for a Portal

Start early. It takes considerable time to introduce your patients to the features available through your portal—and even longer to get them into the habit of using it regularly. “We knew that we had to embrace this new technology as part of the MU requirements and did not want to wait until the last minute to begin implementation,” said Ms.

Going Live

When your patient portal goes live, should you roll out multiple features all at once or implement one component at a time?

Usability Is Critical

Patient portals must be user friendly to sustain continued patient use. If your practice’s portal is not intuitive or if it is too cumbersome to move through the options, you’ll find your patients will avoid using it. “Our portal is provided by one of several third-party vendors that work directly with our EHR vendor,” said Ms. Woodke.

What can a patient use a portal for?

For example, encourage patients to use the portal to make follow-up appointments, stay on top of recommended screenings, or request refills. Some portals even enable clinicians to create task lists for patients that include activities related to taking medications, eating a healthy diet, and staying physically active.

Why are patients not enrolling in EHR?

Patients report not enrolling because they: Don’t remember discussing it with their clinicians. Lack information or motivation — for example, they don’t have signup instructions or they feel too busy.

How to facilitate enrollment?

To facilitate enrollment, automatically enroll your patients in a portal account, instead of waiting for patients to sign up themselves. Keep enrollment numbers up by encouraging new patients to stay registered and offering tips for patients with limited computer access or skills.

How to add portal enrollment steps to paperwork?

You can also add portal enrollment steps to paperwork, such as after-visit summaries. Make the instructions actionable and easy for patients to understand — choose clear, direct language and use illustrations, bullets, and numbering where possible . Encourage them to take immediate action.

Can a receptionist suggest a patient use the portal?

Receptionists can suggest patients use the portal to schedule appointments, refill prescriptions, and ask questions. Automated follow-up emails after an appointment — as well as bills and receipts — can include a link and remind people to sign up.

What does patient access mean?

In this article, patient access means how patients can access information or data about their healthcare. Therefore, an increase in patient access will help patients feel more in control of their healthcare experience and its outcome. Today patients are engaging with their healthcare more so than ever before.

What does it mean to increase patient access to information?

Not only are you allowing more access to information and giving patients more control of that information, but increasing patient access to information also means that the patient can make information public.

Why is improving patient access important?

It is likely that by having more knowledge and control of their healthcare, your patients will feel more satisfied with the care that you provide to them.

Why is it important for patients to become active participants in healthcare?

When patients become active participants in their healthcare, everyone benefits. The patients feel better, and physicians have an easier time getting their patients to a point where they experience true, whole-body wellness.

Can negative reviews hurt patient relationships?

Now, not only do you have to fix your relationship with the patient in question, but the negative review can harm future patient relationships. This is a risk that you take when you increase patient access.

Can consumers pick a doctor?

Consumers of healthcare – patients – are limited to picking a physician within their insurance network. Or be limited to only doctors they can afford. When they do go, they blindly accept the treatment plan outlined to them by a physician, without knowing what it might cost in the end.

Can medical records be hacked?

Obviously, when we put such sensitive information on a digital platform, no matter how good our cybersecurity is, there’s always that small chance that the data could get hacked. This is a huge con to improving patient access in your practice. Although it shouldn’t deter you from improving patient access, it should entice you to make sure you do so smartly and safely. Do your research, and make sure you know how to keep your medical records safe from hackers. You might wonder why someone would want a stranger’s medical records. Well, it turns out that stolen medical records are often more valuable in the black market than stolen credit cards. Medical records contain a lot of personal information about a person and all in one place – often their payment method, full name, birth date, address – giving more ammo to people who are looking to commit fraud.