How do Online Patient Portals Benefit Patients?

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How do Online Patient Portals Benefit
Patients? Portals arent just the realm of
science fiction. Theyre a very useful tool in
real life, allowing patients and medical
professionals to share, store, and discuss health
care-related information. What are some ways
that portals involve patients in their
care? Schedule appointments online Appointment
scheduling is one of the biggest benefits that
patient portals provide. Letting people schedule
appointments themselves could be convenient.
Instead of being surprised and interrupted by
phone calls at unexpected times, people have the
ability to go online and explore appointment
options at their own convenience. When
scheduling, patients could refer to their own
calendars and the scheduling calendars on their
portals, making it easier to determine the times
that work and dont work. If their schedules
change, they could enter portals again to check
their calendars and make changes. They might
want to call the offices and speak to people in
person if they want to make a last-minute change
or cancellation, though, especially if their
medical offices charge fees for late changes or
their appointment is for that same day. Review
results of labs and tests Looking up the results
of tests and labs is another benefit of patient
portals. It can be challenging to remember the
numbers and other results of medical tests,
especially if people are unfamiliar with the
tests and terminologies themselves. Placing
information from electronic health records (EHRs)
onto medical portals gives patients exact numbers
and results. These listings allow patients to
access their personal data anytime and any place,
which could be useful if they live far from their
medical team, have questions, are planning to
visit other medical professionals, or need to use
this information for other purposes.
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In addition, patients might be embarrassed to ask
for results, especially if theyre modest and
their tests and lab work relate to private body
parts or functions. Going online could circumvent
this awkwardness while still answering
questions. Check and pay bills Online health
information on portals could also help patients
deal with insurance companies and pay their
bills. Insurance providers want thorough,
updated information about medical conditions
before theyll pay for their treatment. Patients
can log onto portals to view all this information
and share it with insurance companies or programs
if theyve requested it. Or, since their portals
are connected to their doctors electronic health
records and practice management systems, patients
might not need to send this information
themselves. Instead, they could see the
information that their doctors offices have
already shared with their medical insurers. By
engaging with portals, patients might be able to
pay their bills online. They could also find
records of how much theyve paid their doctors,
how much they still have to pay, and other
information. This could help them with budgets,
taxes, and other financial matters. View
prescription information Using portals also helps
patients view and apply information about their
prescriptions. It could be hard to keep track of
several medications, especially for patients who
might struggle with dementia or other challenges.
Portals list a patients medications, their
dosages, and instructions for using them. Having
this information could be useful if patients are
having health difficulties and think their
medications could be one of the reasons why. It
could also be handy if theyre visiting other
doctors who might be prescribing them other drugs
that could cause interactions. Finally, portals
might allow patients to refill their
prescriptions and provide information about where
they want these prescriptions filled. Studies
have found that patients who use portals to fill
their medications are more likely to use their
prescriptions. Just like paying bills, portals
could make filling
and using prescriptions more convenient.
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Interact with staff members Working in the
medical field involves asking and answering
questions. But what happens if patients want
these answers outside your office hours or cant
travel to an office to ask a quick question or
two? Portals could provide the solution. Portals
allow patients to send questions and information
to medical professionals online. They allow
health care workers to answer these questions,
ask their own, and provide other
information. Medical practices that offer useful
information and timely responses in these portals
show they care about their patients and what they
have to say. In fact, some patients have admitted
that the availability of portals is what prompted
them to choose certain medical practices over
others. Benefits of patient portals for your
office Online portals benefit more than just
patients. They could also help the healthcare
practices that offer them. Gather and store
accurate information Medical files are always
changing, with new information being added
frequently. If practices need to update their
patients records and inform them about these
changes, they can make a note in the portal that
sends them an automatic email or text
message. Similarly, patients can send their
doctors brief email or text messages through
their portals. The messages will be stored with
other communication and their medical
information, making it easy to store, access, and
cross-check information for future
purposes. Create more efficient, faster
appointments Adding and accessing information in
portals could also improve in-person office
visits. Medical professionals might ask patients
to provide information before their appointments.
This might include their blood pressure readings
or
descriptions of their latest symptoms over a
period of days.
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Having records of a patients recent health
status could alert medical professionals if
something is wrong or patients should see them or
receive other medical assistance
sooner. Professionals could analyze this data
and look for trends and patterns, which could
help them diagnose and treat conditions quicker.
Data could help them determine what to do
next. Reduce time spent on the phone and asking
questions in person Digital portals and their
data could also help other medical professionals
in other ways. Since the information contained
in them could provide quick, accurate answers to
a wide variety of questions, patients might not
need to interact with medical staff members as
much. Sure, people might ask questions online,
but questions via email are likely to be shorter,
more focused, and easier to research than ones
asked during an examination when lots of other
things are occurring. Do you want to know more
about portals and how they could assist your
patients and your practice? Contact Eye Care
Leaders. Well answer your questions about
portals and other digital matters and help you
find online answers to your questions.