What Your Portal Should Be Doing For You
Communicating with your patient in a secure manner is a common answer to this question. According to Healthcare IT a patient portal “is a web-based access point that allows doctors and patients to communicate and share health information remotely, supplementing the ongoing management of the patient’s care”.
But what else should your patient portal be doing for you? Several users have compiled a list of several questions when looking at a portal.
- Will it serve as an on-line billing and payment center?
- Will it gather information prior to the office visit and allows patients to fill out paperwork prior to visit?
- Will it reduce phone calls and paperwork with secure messaging feature?
- Will it send out reminders?
- Will it send a continuity Continuity of Care care document Document(CCDA)?
- Does it have direct provider to provider messaging?
- Does it integrate with my EHR?
- Does it work on Mobile devices?
- What is the ongoing support like? Do I have an account manager or a person of contact?
- Technical components (i.e.: Do I host the portal on my servers?)
This list is not inclusive, but is a good starting point to help you pick the portal that is right for your practice.
