How Patient Portals Are Changing the Game in Patient Care

The following is a guest article by Doreen DeGroff, Senior Product Director MEDITECH, CereCore.

Patient portals have existed since the late 1990s, but the onset of a global pandemic triggered a drastic shift within the healthcare community and fueled interest in patient portals. According to The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, about six in 10 individuals nationwide were offered a patient portal in 2020—representing a 17-percentage point increase since 2014.

As the COVID-19 pandemic wore on, staying connected with patients and supporting them in their healthcare journey resulted in trial by error for many patients and providers alike. Now we’re beginning to see healthcare leaders take a much more proactive approach with specific focus on optimization and improving the patient experience through portals—including the use of patient portals in rural healthcare.

Patients in Charge

According to the ONC, “Putting patients in charge of their health records is a key piece of patient control in healthcare, and patient control is at the center of HHS’ work toward a value-based healthcare system.” The high level of innovation and attentiveness to interoperability that supports the patient portal experience is essential.

Providers are now able to engage a group of people who might not have interacted with the technology before. And connect with them at the speed of light. For example, patients can go to a doctor’s office for blood work and access the results via the portal in the time it takes them to return home.

At the same time, we are learning that as a society more education is needed to keep up with the abundance of protected health information (PHI). Patients can and should monitor the information provided in the portal, but doctors still have a responsibility to follow up with the patient and explain the results.

Early on, the patient portal experience was defined by the ability to log in and pay a medical bill online. While this is a convenient perk, the evolution of patient portals focuses on care management and supports the industry’s movement to value-based care.

Impact on Rural Hospitals

Among the advantages of a more patient-centric healthcare system complete with adaptation to patient portals is the positive impact on rural hospitals. Smaller facilities with areas of specialization, such as cardiology or neurology, rely on virtual care and patient portals to connect with patients burdened by a round trip of 50 to 100 miles to make an appointment.

Memorial Healthcare, an independent health system based in Owosso, Michigan, knew all too well the challenges associated with bettering the patient experience in a rural setting. After years of relying on separate healthcare information platforms for clinics and the hospital, VP of Information Services and CIO Tom Kurtz, PhD replaced the EHR with MEDITECH Expanse. “We needed to have a singular system from the acute side to the ambulatory side, for better seamless patient care between the two systems,” said Kurtz.

By providing these patients with the right information at the right time, doctors at hospitals like Memorial can better evaluate whether the rural facility has the resources to meet their needs or if transferring the patient to a larger system is necessary. According to Kurtz, “in addition to upgrading an outdated EHR, our team uses our portal to provide healthcare access to patients who would otherwise struggle to get the care they need”.

Kurtz highlights three common roadblocks faced by smaller systems (100 beds or fewer) are:

  • Lack of financial resources
  • Shortage of staff
  • Hesitancy to adapt

The support of government resources, especially at the state level, is critical to addressing these needs and ensuring rural hospitals have the necessary IT infrastructure to offer patient portals. “The pandemic has magnified the overwhelming disparities that exist in healthcare. Though federal funding can’t eliminate these issues, it goes a long way in providing tools and resources,” he concludes.

The Path Forward

A recent report published by Coherent Market Insights found that the global patient portal software market is projected to grow 7.6% CAGR from 2021 to 2026. This statistic reflects the importance of a valuable experience that builds patient loyalty and satisfaction.

Much progress has been made to improve the patient portal experience on the IT and clinician side. However, there is still work to be done. Technology is part of the solution, along with supportive staff who can respond to the patient’s needs—how to set up their portal, send their doctor a message or refill a prescription. The right combination of technology and people skills is vital to this effort. With open dialogue and transparency, the patient experience will only get better from here.

About Doreen DeGroff

Doreen DeGroff is an experienced consulting practice director with a 30+ year history of working in the information technology and services industry. Skilled in Cerner, MEDITECH, software documentation, healthcare management, clinical research, and physician education. Over the years she has developed a high proficiency in building, supporting, and maintaining teams during conflict negotiations and resolution. Doreen is MEDITECH Ready Certified as a Revenue Cycle Lead, HIM and Project Management. She has served as the Ethics and Compliance Officer, Director Managed Services and Professional Services Business Units as well as Director Patient Access and Patient accounting Departments.

About CereCore

CereCore® provides IT services that make it easier for you to focus on supporting hospital operations and transforming healthcare through technology. With a heritage rooted in our nation’s top-performing hospitals, we serve as leaders and experts in technology, operations, data security, and clinical applications. We partner with clients to become an extension of the team through comprehensive IT and application support, technical professional and managed services, IT advisory services, and EHR consulting, because we know firsthand the power that integrated technology has on patient care and communities.

   

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