Healthcare industry has witnessed a tremendous growth over the past decade. And the growth hasn’t been confined to the invention of state of the art equipment to treat patients. Patient engagement is also considered to be a crucial aspect of health care industry today. This is why Patient Portals are being adopted by several hospital authorities. So what are patient portals and how do hospitals succeed with their business by using patient portals? What are the benefits of employing them? Let us take a look at some of these aspects.
Patient Portals: What are they?
A patient portal is a web based portal that holds the health records of patients and enhances patient engagement. With a unique id and password, it gives an access to the account through which patients can get all the information about their treatment and other ongoings like recent visits, immunizations, lab results, allergies, discharge summary etc. It has a great utility for the hospital staff and authorities as they do not have to keep bulky files containing patient records and flip through them every time there is a query. Prescriptions, details about visits, medications etc can be accessed easily through these portals.
Benefits of Patient Portals
Mentioned below are some of the benefits of these portals.
Lessens absenteeism
It is very important for the patient to be present during the time of their treatment/appointment with the doctor. A patient portal lessens the chances of patient forgetting their visit by sending emails and push notifications about the upcoming appointments. It also enables patients to book new appointments with just a click and without having to talk to receptionists or other staff members.
Creates awareness and involvement
Patient portals can create a lot of awareness amongst patients and keep them well-informed about their health by providing tips to maintain it. They can also find the results and reports of the tests conducted on them. Keeping a track of these things can lead them to the path of improved health.
Lessens efforts
Investing in a patient portal can prove to be very efficient as all the administrative tasks can be taken care of by your staff on their fingertips. Also, the patients can book the appointments and request medication refills on their own. So the staff members do not have to put efforts and time behind administrative tasks like speaking to the patients about their problems and keep them waiting for appointments.
Communication made easy
When patients meet the doctor one on one, they have brief meetings. Sometimes little time is allocated to the patient as the doctors have to see other patients too. This might bring up treatment related questions at a later stage. Through these portals, patients can have a conversation about their small concerns with the doctor and ask questions related to their symptoms. During emergencies, one can keep in touch with the doctors and get satisfactory responses. This aspect of portal takes healthcare industry to a whole another level.
Above mentioned are manifold advantages of patient portals. Some studies have proved that as the patients can get an access to their health data online, they feel like they have the ownership of their own health and they can communicate with the health providers easily. It is the right time for the healthcare industry professionals to understand the increasing popularity of these portals (also known as CRM customer portals) and invest into them in order to boost engagement with patients.
