How do Patient Portals Improve Practice’s Efficiency? The utilization of patient portals has become progressively popular in healthcare establishments after the emergence of electronic medical records and electronic health records. But what, you might ask, exactly is a patient portal, and what is its impact on the practice of healthcare? These portals permit convenient access of medical information to patients. With that being said, a patient portal software such as Demandforce among others is used to develop easier and better communication between patients and their physicians. Moreover, its advanced features allow healthcare organizations to attract and manage patients while increasing and measuring their practice’s productivity, all at the same time. Aside from the aforementioned contributions of Patient Portals to the healthcare system, there are several ways both patients and physicians can benefit from using them.
Patient Portals and Practice Efficiency
Patient portals improve the way of interaction between patients and healthcare providers in a virtual manner, hence allowing for increased office efficiency. Its development offers convenience to practice as it presents an opportunity for providers to promote patient engagement and loyalty, especially amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, patients are given real-time access to the status of their health information, allowing them to take a more active role in coordination with their physicians.
Key Benefits:
- Promotion of Telemedicine
Patient portals can support the facilitation of healthcare telemedicine, allowing patients to consult with their physicians through the messaging system provided by the software.This helps reduce inessential visits to the clinic or hospital, which consequently lessens waiting time and enables physicians to attend to other patients who need an urgent appointment.
- Fewer Medical Errors
Telemedicine features on patient portals can help in having effective and more accurate patient medications from the outset. Having the personal information of patients stored electronically reduces the time for asking questions about their medical history over and over. This results in infrequent errors and hardly any inconsistencies on the file of the patient, hence fewer medical errors on the part of the providers, too.
- Medication Adherence
The provision of access to computer patient portals as well as mobile patient portals through apps is seen to notably improve medication adherence. Providers can give out prescriptions and refill prescriptions easily through the portal, allowing patients to go straight to the pharmacy and get medication refills without the need to visit the doctor’s office for a mere prescription. Not only does it saves time, but also it ensures that patients have access to their required medications consistently.
Other Benefits
Without a doubt, using a patient portal helps save time through the automation of the scheduling process and payment reminders, trouble-free appointment management that make sure patients are always kept in the loop. Besides, paperwork like consent forms and educational materials, and billing information can be efficiently accessed through the portals. Now, isn’t that convenient? Truly, patient portals can be an all-in-one solution to retain patients and attract new ones and keep them coming back while maintaining effective and efficient patient-centered care.
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