patient portal features

by Torrey Ledner 9 min read
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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
  • Medication lists
  • Lab and test results
  • Medical history
  • Patient educational materials

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.

How to create your patient portal?

email and create an account on Sadio, the patient portal. Once the link has been opened, the email address will be verified. 2) The system will prompt you to create a username, password, and enter your date of birth.

What is an epic patient portal?

  • ▪ 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. ...

How to create a patient portal account?

Option 2: Digitally link a vaccine from a health system or pharmacy

  • Select your vaccine provider in the menu or by searching ‘other providers’. ...
  • Your results will link automatically—do not try to resync your results Note, sync time varies by provider and may take up to 30 minutes
  • Once synced, proceed to complete your Health Pass

Do you have a patient portal?

Yes we have a patient portal. You can schedule appointments, access lab results, request refills, view medical records, and send messages directly to your provider. You can learn more here.

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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 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.

What are the benefits of patient portals?

The truth is, there are a lot of benefits to using a patient portal for providers.Better Patient Communication. ... Streamline Patient Registration and Administrative Tasks. ... Greater Focus on Patient Care. ... Better Patient-Physician Relationships. ... Improve Clinical Outcomes. ... Optimize Medical Office Workflow.

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.

Are patient portals effective?

Patient portal interventions were overall effective in improving a few psychological outcomes, medication adherence, and preventive service use. There was insufficient evidence to support the use of patient portals to improve clinical outcomes.

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?

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.

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 improve 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 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 you use patient portals?

If your provider offers a patient portal, you will need a computer and internet connection to use it. Follow the instructions to register for an account. Once you are in your patient portal, you can click the links to perform basic tasks. You can also communicate with your provider's office in the message center.

Who has the best patient portal?

Epic Systems won the Best in KLAS patient portal with an overall score of 89.4 out of 100, which is more than 10 points higher than the average. The second-place winner, athenahealth, scored 79.9. Greenway Health came in third with a 77.9 and Cerner in fourth with a 77.6.

What is a patient portal?

Patient portal is a website providing 24/7 access service to patients’ personal health information across any device. With a username and password,...

What are the benefits of patient portals?

Apparently, patient portals as software providing easily accessible information to users can bring considerable benefits both to physicians and pat...

How patient portals create value for patients?

Patients’ presence on patient portals unlocks for them the opportunities to: schedule appointments hassle-freeimprove their health awareness with a...

What features should be included in a patient portal?

Patient portal developers should certainly pay attention to including the following features into the functionality package of their product to ach...

Why are patient portals important?

One of the top benefits of patient portal usage is dramatic increase of patient engagement due to opening various possibilities of involvement for patients in their healthcare upon patient portal activation and utilization.

Why is it important to refrain from using patient portal?

It is important to note that patients refraining from applying patient portal option admit privacy concerns as a reason. It means that, provided they could feel reassured of the mentioned concerns , they would be willing to apply patient portal access more often.

Why is patient engagement important in healthcare?

According to the World Health Organization Report, patient engagement became an integral component of healthcare as patients once involved in the process are more capable of taking informed decisions in favor of healthcare awareness.

Why are portals beneficial?

Portals are beneficial in terms of managing the process of patient registration with ease. Patient portals enable easy-to-perform sign in to get access to the records or complete patient forms for having a test, getting insights with health history data, tapping in immunization records, or lists of prescribed medication lists.

What is online appointment scheduling?

Online Appointment Scheduling is one of the most important features on patient portal as it enables patients, regardless of their actual location, to make an appointment on a certain date or on those time slots that suit patients best.

Know Your Options

Evaluate your options and create a long-term strategy. By assessing the full range of portal components, you can then determine which capabilities will best suit your practice.

Registering

Save the patient time in the office. When registration is completed prior to an appointment, patients spend less time in the waiting room and more time engaged in their care.

Secure Messaging

When your patient portal is integrated with your EHR system, secure messaging provides an efficient way to exchange information with both patients and other providers.

Providing Educational Materials

Diagnoses and treatment plans can be difficult for patients to understand and remember. In order to reinforce this information, practices have been giving patients supplemental printed materials for years. And now, with a portal, patients can access these materials online.

Ask for Patient Feedback

It is important to communicate with your patients and ask for feedback about your practice’s performance and services—including your patient portal. In order to get tips from them for making the portal more useful, Ms.

New Patient Registration

When new clients call your office to schedule a visit, you’ll need to gather information from them before the appointment. There may be some details you get from them over the phone, and then even more information the day they show up for their first visit.

Medical History

Another aspect of new patients that takes up a bulk of their first visit is going over medical history. This includes their medical history as well as family history.

Managing Appointment Times

Having the ability to schedule, change, or cancel appointments on the patient portal is another helpful feature. If you don’t already offer online scheduling, you’re way behind the trend. But it’s an easy fix, and implementing it into clients’ online accounts makes it simple to find and access.

Appointment Reminders and Confirmation

Features for managing appointment times also rely on the ability to send reminders and confirmations. After patients have booked their visit, your office will need to alert them as the date approaches. These reminders include confirmation just in case the person does need to switch their time.

Appointment Summary Notes

When patients leave the doctor’s office, they immediately forget up to 80% of the information that doctors went over with them. This makes it difficult for people to understand their health details and how to follow a treatment plan.

Online Payments

Online bill pay is becoming so popular as more practices go paperless and young consumers value their convenience. This electronic payment method has so many benefits for both the provider and the patient.

Ability to Change Personal Information

Whether it’s demographic or contact information, users need the option to make updates within their account. Information that people may need to occasionally change could include...

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 is patient portal?

Patient portal EMR Software platform provides immense value to both patients and practices if used properly with the right tools and features. Patient portals have helped patients to stay on top of their healthcare and wellness routine by empowering them to interact and engage in every point of care. If you think your existing patient portal lacks the above functionalities then it’s surely time to upgrade to a new and powerful platform to offer patient-centric care.

What is a road block for patients to use a patient portal?

A user-friendly interface – A major road-block for patients to use a patient portal is a clunky interface that makes it frustrating for users to operate the system. Patients might be encouraged to use the platform but a negative experience can stop the patient from logging into the patient portal system again. Before opting for a patient portal software system make sure it is easy to use to create simple navigation for patients so they can utilize its maximum potential.

What is patient portal?

In a nutshell, a patient portal is the user-facing component of an electronic health record (EHR) solution, which is intended to simplify patients’ access to medical data — i. e., physician notes, laboratory results, billing information, — and drive patient participation.

What is the educational section of a patient portal?

Designed to replace printed supplementary materials promoting healthy habits and effective chronic condition management, the educational section of a patient portal allows physicians to develop personalized outreach campaigns and unlock the value of technology-assisted population health management.

What is eBilling payment?

Leveraged through secure third-party payment gateways, such as Stripe or PayPal, the eBilling feature enables care providers to seek reimbursements in a transparent way, split expenses between insurance companies and individuals and allow patients to pay bills online.

What is the importance of integration with electronic health records?

Often regarded as the cornerstone of patient portal development, the integration with electronic health records ensures online access to medical information, including after-visit summaries, laboratory test results, medical images and clinical notes. Optionally, healthcare providers may take a step towards a deeper integration with hospital software and allow patients to self-manage the information regarding medication intake, allergies and immunization and upload files, which would be automatically added to their personal health records.

What is a live chat in a hospital?

Besides real-time communication with hospital team and other specialists involved in care delivery, a live chat with file sharing capabilities can facilitate remote diagnosis and consultations for patients with both minor issues and chronic conditions.

What is appointment scheduling?

An appointment scheduler should feature a built-in notification system to alert patients on upcoming meetings via SMS and email and provide the options to fill out pre-visit forms and request referrals. The desirable functionality of an appointment scheduling module also includes the ability to set consultations with more than one physician using a convenient drop-down menu.

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