how to use patient portal

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.

Full Answer

How to get your patients to use your patient portal?

With a patient portal, you can:

• Make appointments (non-urgent)
• Request referrals
• Refill prescriptions
• Check benefits
• Update insurance or contact information
• Make payments to your provider's office
• Complete forms
• Ask questions through secure e-mail

How to access your patient portal?

When you register on the TOL Patient Portal, you can:

• Review and download personal health information
• Schedule, change, view, or cancel appointments at your military hospital or clinic
• Receive secure email and text message appointment reminders
• Refill and check status of your prescriptions at your military hospital or clinic
• Get information and services when separating from active duty or reserves

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How do I access my Patient Portal?

You Choose the When and the Where

• Use the Portal from anywhere using a browser
• Access from your smartphone or tablet
• Manage information 24X7, without waiting

What do the best patient portals have in common?

• Scheduling 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
• Updating medical history

How do you implement a patient portal?

9 Steps to Implement a New Patient Portal SolutionResearch Different Portal Solutions. ... Look for the Right Portal Features. ... Get Buy-In from Key Stakeholders. ... Evaluate and Enhance Existing Workflows. ... Develop a Comprehensive Onboarding Plan. ... Be Prepared for a Successful Go-Live. ... Seek Out Painless Portal Migration.

Are patient portals easy to use?

Portals provide physicians with a fast and easy way to communicate with chronically ill patients. They are a place to get complete and more accurate patient information. Portals empower patients to take ownership of their own healthcare, so they remain aware of the entire care process.

What is a patient portal and what is it used for?

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.

What should be included in 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 are the disadvantages of using a patient portal?

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.

What are the pros and cons of using a patient portal?

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.

Does patient portal have an app?

Patient portal apps typically allow patients to share their health records with providers, enabling them to gain a longitudinal view of their patient's health history. Like Epic's MyChart, some apps even allow patients to provide temporary access to their medical records via a code.

Is patient portal an app?

The PatientPORTAL App connects you, the patient, with your healthcare provider. The App enables you to view upcoming appointments and lab results, as well as send and receive secure messages for yourself and any dependents that you may have for easy communication with your provider.

Do patients use patient portals?

Among individuals who were offered a patient portal, about eight in 10 were encouraged by their health care provider to use it. Seventy-one percent of individuals encouraged by their health care provider accessed their portal at least once in the past year compared to 48 percent who were not encouraged.

What is the difference between personal health records and patient portals?

A patient portal is a type of personal health record (PHR) that is connected to an electronic health record (EHR) system. Patient portals provide a secure website through which patients can access their clinical data.

What types of patient portals are there?

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.

What is the most popular patient portal?

Top 10 Patient Portal Software By EMRSystemsEpic EHR Software's MyChart.athenahealth EMR Software's athenaCommunicator.PrognoCIS EMR Software.Cerner Specialty Practice Management Software.eClinicalWorks EMR Software's Patient Portal and Healow App.Greenway PrimeSUITE EHR Software.NextGen Healthcare EHR Software.More items...•

How to view past appointments on a doctor's schedule?

You can view visit summaries of past appointments by clicking on the appointment time under the Past tab. Requesting a new appointment from your account is easy.

What is patient fusion?

Patient Fusion helps you keep track of your health records, manage your appointments, communicate with your doctor and manage your health spending. If you don’t have access yet, contact your doctor's office or find a new Patient Fusion doctor today. Accessing your health records.

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.

Improving Care with Patient Portals

Patients can sometimes feel overwhelmed during a doctor’s appointment, whether due to unexpected news or complex medical terminology. Fortunately, patient portals allow providers to share clinical summaries after a screening or check-up, so patients can then easily reference their medical history or lab results on their own time.

Understanding Low Portal Adoption Rates

As helpful as this technology can be, it still isn’t being used to its full potential. At two-thirds of hospitals, less than a quarter of patients have activated their portal. Despite our constantly-connected world, many patients still don't use or see the value in the patient portal.

Improving the Use of Patient Portals

Nearly all healthcare facilities have a portal system in place, and many practitioners are trying to encourage their patients to use the technology. It’s important for healthcare providers to understand their patients’ barriers to adoption and how to best address and counter them.

Why is patient portal important?

Patient portals can be great tools for engaging your patients, and can even help save you time when patients use secure messaging. Still, getting your practice’s patient portal set-up and actually getting patients to use it are two entirely different challenges.

Can you schedule an appointment online?

If a patient calls in to schedule an appointment, have the receptionist explain that next time they can schedule an appointment online, and even receive appointment reminders by email. When patients are checking out, make sure staff say they’ll be able to pay their bills online.

Is patient portal a project?

Adopting a patient portal is a huge project, and it’s likely to need some tweaking and updating after your first launch. If you add a new feature (like, say appointment scheduling) or update the layout to make it more user-friendly, make sure you advertise these changes to your patients. A patient who initially logged on and was frustrated by bugs or a difficult layout might be encouraged by news of an updated design.