The following is a guest article by Timothy Miller from Plus Technologies.
As healthcare organizations continue to embrace new technologies, it is no surprise they would encourage their patients to do the same. For instance, it is common practice for health professionals to refer their patients to the organization’s portal in order to retrieve patient information such as discharge documents, care and exercise instructions, patient’s rights information and more.
Since this information is available in an electronic format, there is no need for the staff to waste time and effort printing out large volumes of patient information that may or may not be read. It is also a convenient central repository for such information.
However, according to ONC Data Brief #57 from Sept 2021, only 38% of individuals nationwide reported that they accessed their portal at least once in 2020. When asked, customers who do not use their patient portal prefer to communicate with the medical practice or hospital directly and don’t want to view their records online.
The portal may be convenient for the healthcare organization but getting the patient to adopt and use the portal presents many challenges.
The Challenges of Portal Use
Low adoption rates for portal use are common for many reasons. One of the main reasons is because they’re not given a clear starting point. Healthcare providers usually provide print-based instructions, which many people simply discard or do not read.
Some patients simply forget where to go or how to get to the portal. If and when they do manage to find the portal, the patient may forget the login username or password. When a user manages to successfully enter their login credentials, navigating the interface and finding their relevant information can be confusing, difficult, and time consuming.
Some patients have more than one online medical record, which can include multiple providers. This can be confusing for the patient, who may end up juggling between different portals.
Other patients may not feel the need to participate because they only went to the doctor for a one-time visit or a regular checkup. Some patients are simply uncomfortable with computers or on-line technology.
How Does a Healthcare Organization Overcome Low Adoption Rates for Portal Use?
When patients feel confusion, frustration, or irritation with this process, the natural reaction is to disengage. Ignoring the problem is not an option. Not only does it reflect poorly on the organization but also does not serve the patient’s best interest. So, what can the healthcare organization do about this? How do they solve this problem?
One way is to assign support staff to reach out to the patients to help educate them on how to access their portal but that is a challenging endeavor. It requires the organization to dedicate significant resources, as well as large amounts of time and energy. Although this can address the problem, it is not very practical.
Using Software Solutions to Solve the Problem
The portal contains a wealth of information and capabilities which are always available to the patient if necessary, so replacing the portal or discouraging its use is not an option.
Automatically sending copies of the portal documents to the patient via secure email is a more convenient and intuitive way for the patient to receive and view the information. This type of solution collects copies of patient portal documents related to a particular encounter. It bundles them together as attachments to one email and sends them to the patient via secure email.
The email comes from the organization’s email address, has a meaningful subject line and the patient’s first name at the beginning of the email. All this helps the patient recognize that it is a legitimate and important email that they should open. The patient can conveniently access the information from anywhere they can connect to email including a smartphone, tablet, laptop and computer.
To use this type of automated solution, the patient agrees to receive emails about their encounters from the healthcare organization. The email messages are encrypted and compliant with HIPAA, PHI, and other security requirements. This type of solution is more convenient and requires no additional steps for the patient to automatically and securely receive their information.
Common documents that can be sent via secure email include:
- Discharge instructions
- Exercise instructions
- Consent forms
- Clinical notes during visit
- Test results
- No Surprises Act waiver, consent, good faith estimate
- Documents that can be easily forward to a caregiver or another healthcare provider
- Education and community resources
A new solution from Plus Technologies called Dir2Email addresses all these issues and concerns. Plus Technologies has been providing output management solutions since 1994 and has many large to small healthcare customers. Contact Plus Technologies to learn more.
About Timothy Miller
Timothy Miller is a marketing specialist with over 20 years of experience in the Information Technology sector. He has written extensively on the relationship between healthcare and print management software. Timothy currently resides in the Dayton, Ohio Area.
