9 Ways How Healthcare Portals Boost Patient Engagement and Satisfaction

Doctors and healthcare professionals play a significant role in ensuring patients’ well-being. However, these professionals can’t be everywhere. Unexpected events like the COVID-19 pandemic can make it impossible for them to devote personal attention to each patient.

This is where patient portals come into play, especially in areas of treatment like mental and behavioral health, addiction, and others. 96% of telepsychiatry patients are delighted with telemedicine. Also, 73% of people in rural areas and 76% of senior citizens over the age of 55 favor telemedicine.

Patient portals will not replace healthcare professionals, but they can make their jobs easier. These patient portals act as a centralized repository that helps patients access their medical records and test results 24/7 while providing valuable features like secure messaging. Doctors need not pay personal visits for tasks like refilling prescriptions, updating medical lists, and tracking patients’ health conditions.

The estimated market size for the global patient portal market is expected to reach USD 4,800 million by 2024. Growing at a 14.8% CAGR, the above numbers are projected to touch USD 19.8 billion by 2034. Patient portals will evolve and contribute significantly to patient engagement and satisfaction. This blog will shed light on the growing importance of patient portals and how they revolutionize the healthcare sector. Keep reading.

Table of Contents

What is a Patient Portal?
Top Features of a Patient Portal
9 Ways How Patient Portals Enhance Patient Engagement and Satisfaction
Closing Thoughts

What is a Patient Portal?

Most patients are unfamiliar with healthcare jargon and may not have 24/7 access to their medical records, prescriptions, dosages, and other details. A patient portal is an online, centralized platform connected to patients’ electronic health records. It provides patients with easy access to their medication and health-related records.

Furthermore, patient portals provide a sense of reassurance by allowing patients to monitor their chronic conditions in real time. This is in addition to the benefits of facilitating information exchange and streamlining workflows. Patients have greater control over their health information, with features like real-time test results and vital information.

Most importantly, a patient portal’s simple and engaging user interface allows patients to navigate and find information quickly. Charts, infographics, and diagrams in the patient portals facilitate the easy understanding of medical concepts and illnesses, enhancing patient communication and engagement.

Top Features of a Patient Portal

The top features of a patient portal at a glance are as follows:

Access to Medical Records
Appointment Scheduling and Management
Secure Messaging
Prescription Refills
Online Bill Payments and Statements
Educational Resources
Remote Patient Monitoring
Patient Reviews and Satisfaction Surveys

How Patient Portals Enhance Customer Engagement and Satisfaction

Now that we have covered the basics of patient portals, it is time to delve deep and understand how they enhance customer engagement and satisfaction.

1. Improved Communication
Healthcare facilities are busy places. In addition to treating patients, healthcare professionals are occupied with other activities, such as answering calls, setting appointments, writing prescriptions, and more.
Patient portals facilitate round-the-clock communication between healthcare providers and patients.
Patients can send messages, request appointments, and refill prescriptions without delay and intervention by healthcare professionals.
These patient portal portals offer unparalleled convenience. They allow patients to perform the above tasks even after office hours, providing them with a sense of ease and comfort.

2. Education and Self-Reliance
It is time for patients to stop being passive and step into the driver’s seat. Patient portals are potent tools that allow patients to adopt a proactive approach towards their health.

Tests, Results, and Proactive Approach

Stop chasing doctors and their assistants for lab reports. Patients can log in to the portal with their credentials and view their test results and reports.

The reports have additional details about their ailments, including images, X-rays, and diagrams.
These detailed reports empower patients to better understand their ailments, enabling them to ask the right questions during appointments and take control of their health. With a holistic view of their health conditions (through detailed records), patients can offer constructive suggestions and participate in decision-making with healthcare providers.
Patient portals can streamline bill payments, appointment scheduling, and form filling, resulting in greater convenience and time savings for patients.
A complete knowledge of diagnosis, treatments, and root causes of illnesses facilitates strict adherence to medication schedules. It also empowers patients to make lifestyle changes to stay healthy and keep their illnesses in check.

3. Reduced Administrative Burden
Patient portals can significantly reduce the administrative burden for healthcare providers in the following ways.

Automated Reminders

The portal automatically sends patients reminders for upcoming appointments, tests, and medicine consumption.
These automated reminders significantly reduce the chances of patients missing their appointments, relieving healthcare providers of the burden of no-shows. This allows staff to focus on attending to patients and streamlining operations.
Focused Consulting
Patients can fill out forms online. They don’t have to call healthcare providers to schedule appointments or spend hours in the waiting room.
This organized and stress-free process benefits patients and plays a crucial role in the smooth functioning of healthcare organizations.
It makes the staff feel valued and integral to the system. Healthcare employees can focus on constructive tasks as they no longer need to spend time on data entry, scheduling appointments, and handling paperwork.

4. Streamlined Workflows
Patients and healthcare professionals like doctors, nurses, and other specialists can also access information on patient portals. How does this easily accessible information benefit them?
The centralized and secure patient platform allows healthcare professionals to access and share patient information, such as medical history, test results, and referrals.
These electronic health records eliminate the need for physical documentation.
Healthcare professionals can easily access these electronic documents, empowering them to use them for reference whenever needed, putting them in control of the information they need.
This easy access to documents facilitates faster and more efficient consulting, resulting in optimized patient care.
5. Streamlined Billing
The patient portal allows healthcare providers to submit claims for occupational health services online. It minimizes the need for paper forms, manual data entries, and other time-consuming processes.
This process results in faster and more accurate claims processing.
With all records centralized on the patient portal, healthcare providers can quickly check the statuses of claims and resolve them without delays. This centralized system ensures efficient and organized claim management.

6. Secure Data Sharing
Conventional methods of sharing patient information include paper reports. These paper records may deteriorate over time. Also, different departments and employees may modify and print online documents, resulting in discrepancies. Patient portals can resolve these problems.

Encryption
Data stored in patient portals is encrypted. Only authorized users can access it, reducing the chances of breaches or unauthorized access.

Audit Trails
The patient platform reveals who accessed what information, how, when, and why. These audit trails develop accountability and protect sensitive patient information.

Role-Based Access Control
Administrators can control who can access and modify specific information on the patient portal based on their roles and responsibilities in the organization.

7. Better Care Coordination
Easy access to real-time patient information facilitates better coordination and communication between employees in healthcare facilities.

360-Degree View of Patient History
With complete and real-time access to electronic records about patients’ history, medications, diagnoses, allergies, and test results, healthcare employees can make informed decisions. This organized process eliminates confusion and ensures the best possible treatments.

No Wasted Efforts
All the data lies in a single repository. Even the slightest change that an employee makes is visible. When all the employees in an organization access the same information, they perform the proper tests and treatments on patients.

Real-Time Information Sharing
For example, a doctor diagnoses a patient with liver cirrhosis due to excessive drinking. The patient may also suffer from other ailments, including cardiomyopathy, arrhythmias, and high blood pressure.
The first doctor will perform a diagnosis and jot down all the information in an electronic document online.
Subsequently, other doctors or specialists involved in the patient’s care for additional conditions can access this document and contribute their expertise to ensure comprehensive treatment.
In this way, the patient portal is a central platform that enables real-time data sharing, resulting in the proper treatment of patients suffering from multiple chronic conditions.
8. Substantial Cost Savings
Everything is interconnected in a healthcare environment. Proper treatment results in satisfied customers, who in turn result in satisfied patients and repeat business. Doctors, nurses, specialists, accounts and billing professionals, marketing, and other employees benefit from this.

Lesser Offline Interactions
Thanks to the patient portal, all actions happen online, whether accessing information, answering questions, or requesting prescription refills. Staff can focus on other tasks.
Reduced Invoicing Costs
One crucial benefit of patient portals is their ability to generate and send invoices automatically.
This saves time and money and contributes to reducing carbon footprints, aligning with the growing focus on environmental sustainability.
Patient portals also offer online payment options that ensure quick and timely payments. Neither the staff nor the patients need to carry physical currency.
Also, we should pay attention to the earlier points discussed in this blog. In that case, streamlined workflows, reduced paperwork, and enhanced team collaboration will result in more savings.
9. Increased Transparency
The ease of making payments, accessing reports online, self-service, and secure messaging features ensure increased customer transparency.
Unlike the old days, customers don’t have to physically visit healthcare facilities every time to get treatment and medicines.
The transparency of patient portals, which provide clear and open access to information, ensures a win-win situation for everyone.
Closing Thoughts
Healthcare institutions must understand that patient portals are not just a tool, but a necessity in meeting evolving customer expectations. The market has changed, and patient portals are the key to elevating healthcare service while prioritizing customer health. Their increased convenience and transparency encourage patients to stick with their healthcare provider, enhancing loyalty and satisfaction.

Don’t think of patient portals as a magical solution that will change your fortunes overnight. In simple language, a patient portal ensures that healthcare providers do the right things without any mistakes. Also, it ensures adherence to established rules and regulations to ensure smooth operations. However, developing and implementing tailored patient portals can be a challenge. If you lack the resources or the technical knowledge, consider hiring a customer portal development company.

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