{"id":4508,"date":"2013-01-14T18:00:28","date_gmt":"2013-01-14T23:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=4508"},"modified":"2013-01-14T18:00:28","modified_gmt":"2013-01-14T23:00:28","slug":"patient-portal-patients-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/patient-portal-patients-access\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Get Patients to Access Your Patient Portal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patient portals are the broccoli of the health IT world \u2013 loaded with benefits, but patients still won\u2019t touch them. Patient adoption and usage of patient portals is at a mere 6% nationwide according to Chilmark Research.<\/p>\n

The problem is, if you\u2019re looking to attest to Meaningful Use Stage 2 you can\u2019t afford to let your patient portal go the way of the perpetually unappreciated broccoli. The amount of patients that access your portal now matters<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Many physicians complain that this isn\u2019t fair since they can\u2019t control what their patients do outside the office.<\/p>\n

But the truth is, your practice can easily get patients to your portal with some forward-thinking and a proactive approach.<\/p>\n

Involve Patients in the Selection Process<\/strong>
\nSeeing that they are called patient<\/span> portals, it only makes sense that your patients should have a say in the selection of a portal.<\/p>\n

Ask patients what they would find useful in a portal when they visit with you. Distribute a short, simple survey for them to complete when they come into the office or create a poll on your practice\u2019s Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Select a Portal with Useful Features<\/strong>
\nOnce you know the features your patients want, select a patient portal with those features. This increases the likelihood of patient use.<\/p>\n

Chilmark Research noted that the patient portal for healthcare consortium Kaiser Permanente sees a patient usage rate of 35% largely because of the useful features it offers, such as appointment scheduling.<\/p>\n

Mike Cuesta, Director of Design and Community for CareCloud, believes that portals should\u00a0\u201ctry to automate some of the more administrative tasks and some of the things that require you to communicate with your physician.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This increases convenience for your patients. When they don\u2019t have to call or show up at your practice to get a prescription refill or pick up a referral form, it\u2019s less time being taken out of their busy day.<\/p>\n

Take Front-End Portal Design Into Account<\/strong>
\nYour patients are less likely to use a patient portal designed in a way that makes beneficial features difficult to access.<\/p>\n

\u201cPatients want things that are easy, simple to use, and clean,\u201d<\/strong> said Cuesta. He stated that portal applications should be \u201cinvisible\u201d in the sense that patients can perform the tasks they need to without even thinking about it.<\/p>\n

He also noted that proper design and functionality need to apply to both computer and mobile patient access.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that, if you\u2019re on a mobile phone or on a desktop, you want to be able to access that same portal,\u201d said Cuesta. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean that on your mobile phone you want to view the desktop version; you want a version that\u2019s optimized for mobile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never Stop Raising Patient Awareness of the Portal<\/strong>
\nYour portal can be everything your patients want, but patients who aren\u2019t aware of the portal can\u2019t possibly use it. This is why continuous effort needs to go into raising patient awareness of your portal.<\/p>\n

Constantly remind your patients about the portal and the benefits it provides<\/a>. You can pass out fliers, post materials in the office, and even provide talking points to the staff<\/strong> so they can engage patients about the portal as well.<\/p>\n

Cuesta suggested making sure the portal is reinforced on the web as well. Not only by pushing the message on the practice website but through email and social channels as well.<\/p>\n

Remember, don\u2019t blame your patients if they aren\u2019t using your portal at the required rate. Patients want the convenience a portal provides; that convenience just has to be made available and they have to know it. If not, you may end up falling short of the Meaningful Use Stage 2 requirements.<\/p>\n

Need more information about the stages of Meaningful Use? Take a look at our Meaningful Use Timeline<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patient portals are the broccoli of the health IT world \u2013 loaded with benefits, but patients still won\u2019t touch them. Patient adoption and usage of patient portals is at a mere 6% nationwide according to Chilmark Research. The problem is, if you\u2019re looking to attest to Meaningful Use Stage 2 you can\u2019t afford to let […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","category-regulations"],"yoast_head":"\nGet Patients to Access Your Patient Portal - Continuum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Your patient portal needs to be accessed by 5% of patients for Meaningful Use Stage 2. 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