patient portal abnormal results

by Uriel Simonis 6 min read
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It’s been common practice to delay releasing lab and pathology results to patient portals for a certain period, particularly for abnormal results. This allowed clinicians to review the results before patients could access them and determine how best to deliver the results to patients.

Full Answer

Can patient portals automatically notify patients of abnormal test results?

Our findings have important insights and implications for the future implementation of the use of patient portals for automatic notification of abnormal test results, and how patient engagement providers could leverage to reduce the number of test results overlooked. Acknowledgments Funding

How sensitive are abnormal test results to patients?

For this respondent, all abnormal test results are potentially sensitive if she’s not sure what the abnormal result means in context. Notification preferences appeared to be highly patient specific. Personal experiences with physicians, abnormal test result notification, and the portal heavily influenced respondents’ notification preferences.

Are patient portals making access to health care data easier?

The emergence of patient portals has made accessing and sharing health care data easier for patients, but the process often still moves at what can feel like a snail's pace—especially if a patient is anxiously awaiting the results of a lab or pathology test.

How can we improve patient engagement in follow-up through portals?

Patient experiences with portals could be improved by development of strategies to help patients understand and manage the information received. These findings suggest important considerations for health professionals and institutions aiming to better engage patients in follow-up of their test results.

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Why do doctors withhold test results?

A doctor might fail to disclose test results for several reasons. For one, they may simply forget to tell the patient about the test results. More often, test results can be lost or confused along the chain of communication in a hospital.

What are the cons of 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 type of information can be found on 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: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries.

What makes a good patient portal?

In order to help you evaluate common portal capabilities, we asked patients which portal features they would need the most: Scheduling appointments online. Viewing health information (e.g., lab results or clinical notes) Viewing bills/making payments.

Do doctors like patient portals?

The findings, published in the journal Health Affairs, indicate a lack of physician, health system and insurer engagement in promoting portal use—nearly 40% of patients in the study reported not being offered it.

Why do some patients fail to participate in the use of the patient portal?

The reason why most patients do not want to use their patient portal is because they see no value in it, they are just not interested. The portals do not properly incentivize the patient either intellectually (providing enough data to prove useful) or financially.

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.

Which type of functionality would you want from your 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 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 do patient portals improve patient outcomes?

Patient portals have demonstrated benefit by improving adherence to medications and providing patient-provider communication. They may reduce in-person and emergency department visits, facilitate patient discovery of errors in electronic medical records (EMRs) and reduce the cost of care.

Do patient portals improve outcomes?

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.

What are the five C's for correctly entering information into a medical record?

CardsTerm Medical records areDefinition collection of data recordd when a patient seeks medical treatmentTerm Name the five C's for correctly entering unformation into patients medical recordsDefinition Concise, complete, clear, correct and chronologically order80 more rows•Nov 2, 2007

What is ONC blocking?

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT's (ONC) new information blocking requirements, which took effect last month, aim to make it easier and faster for patients to access their electronic health information (EHI). ONC has made it clear that providers largely can no longer delay the release of EHI to patients, including lab and pathology test results.

Is patient data siloed?

Patients' health care data has long been siloed, existing largely in paper files stored on doctor offices’ shelves or in electronic systems that couldn’t interact with each other. The emergence of patient portals has made accessing and sharing health care data easier for patients, but the process often still moves at what can feel like a snail's pace—especially if a patient is anxiously awaiting the results of a lab or pathology test.

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