{"id":9633,"date":"2013-10-17T18:24:57","date_gmt":"2013-10-17T22:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.poweryourpractice.com\/?p=9633"},"modified":"2013-10-17T18:24:57","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T22:24:57","slug":"case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case for EHR-integrated Patient Portals"},"content":{"rendered":"

With Meaningful Use Stage 2 and its patient engagement requirements drawing near, patient portals<\/a> are garnering a fair amount of attention from healthcare pundits<\/strong>. It seems like portal adoption is almost mandatory at this point.<\/p>\n

While some health IT vendors offer EHRs that have a native portal built into the software, many do not. Physicians who adopt an electronic health record without an integrated portal are then tasked with finding an independent portal offering that syncs with their EHR.<\/p>\n

It sounds like the end result may be the same, but it\u2019s far from it. There are multiple reasons why going with an integrated EHR-portal solution makes more sense than combining two separate offerings.<\/p>\n

Costs<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Depending on whether you purchase a client-server EHR or a cloud-based solution<\/a>, you\u2019ll either pay a lump sum upfront or a regular monthly payment. Purchasing a separate patient portal to integrate with your EHR solution will add another monthly payment<\/strong> on top of what you\u2019re already paying.<\/p>\n

Patient portal costs usually vary depending on the functionality you need from the software \u2013 the more capabilities, the more expensive.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if your EHR comes equipped with a patient portal, you won\u2019t have to make any additional payments for an independent solution. Plus, the portal will be fully functional, meaning you won\u2019t have to pay anything extra for certain features.<\/p>\n

Software Integration<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The main problem with integrating an EHR and a portal from two different sources is that while they may work well together at first, they don\u2019t always continue to do so in the long run. Say your EHR vendor makes a change to their software, the portal vendor will then have to update their solution accordingly. In this case, you will have to wait for the two to sync up again.<\/p>\n

There can also be a disconnect in customer service. If the two aren\u2019t working together properly, who would you address the issue to: the EHR or the portal vendor?<\/p>\n

With an integrated solution, though, there is no need to worry about the two components disconnecting or who to ask customer service questions to. Updates to either the EHR or portal will be made together<\/strong>, creating a seamless interface.<\/p>\n

Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you choose an EHR with an integrated portal solution, costs and productivity loss due to training go down as well. The vendor takes care of training for both products during the implementation process, so you\u2019ll be up and running in no time.<\/p>\n

Going with separate EHR and portal vendors means double the training. First, you\u2019ll have to learn to work with one offering, then the second. Unfortunately, the time your staff spends on training<\/a> is time not spent performing vital revenue enhancing tasks<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Timing<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Because Meaningful Use Stage 2 is less than three months away, if you choose to purchase EHR and patient portal software separately, there may not be enough time left for integration. It can take from three to six months for two companies to sync software<\/strong> together depending on the issues they encounter.<\/p>\n

Going with an EHR already combined with a portal is a much faster solution. The only thing you have to worry about is training in time for your practice to catch the start date of Stage 2.<\/p>\n

Although combining separate EHR and patient portal offerings may technically work, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the best solution. If you\u2019re in the market for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. There\u2019s merit to the saying \u201ckill two birds with one stone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Meaningful Use Stage 2 and its patient engagement requirements drawing near, patient portals are garnering a fair amount of attention from healthcare pundits. It seems like portal adoption is almost mandatory at this point. While some health IT vendors offer EHRs that have a native portal built into the software, many do not. Physicians […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32788,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-9633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-growth","tag-growth"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Continuum\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"350\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cc_continuum\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cc_continuum\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cc_continuum\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6af17e75a684cc5cd23741e014351348\"},\"headline\":\"The Case for EHR-integrated Patient Portals\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":602,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png\",\"keywords\":[\"Growth\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Growth\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/10\\\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":350},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Case for EHR-integrated Patient Portals\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/\",\"name\":\"Continuum\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Continuum\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cc-logo-header-2021-1-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/cc-logo-header-2021-1-2.png\",\"width\":218,\"height\":57,\"caption\":\"Continuum\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6af17e75a684cc5cd23741e014351348\",\"name\":\"cc_continuum\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cc_continuum\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/carecloud.com\\\/continuum\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum","description":"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum","og_description":"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.","og_url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/","og_site_name":"Continuum","article_published_time":"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":350,"url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"cc_continuum","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cc_continuum","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/"},"author":{"name":"cc_continuum","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#\/schema\/person\/6af17e75a684cc5cd23741e014351348"},"headline":"The Case for EHR-integrated Patient Portals","datePublished":"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/"},"wordCount":602,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png","keywords":["Growth"],"articleSection":["Growth"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/","url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/","name":"The Case for EHR Integrated Patient Portals - Continuum","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png","datePublished":"2013-10-17T22:24:57+00:00","description":"If you\u2019re looking for a new EHR, make sure it comes with a patient portal. EHRs integrated with patient portals provide a better solution.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/dummy-1-paigl6zusafxfmk55j3mhrce0nfw5zrnw9chmopqcs.png","width":400,"height":350},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/case-ehr-integrated-patient-portals\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Case for EHR-integrated Patient Portals"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#website","url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/","name":"Continuum","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#organization","name":"Continuum","url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cc-logo-header-2021-1-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/cc-logo-header-2021-1-2.png","width":218,"height":57,"caption":"Continuum"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/#\/schema\/person\/6af17e75a684cc5cd23741e014351348","name":"cc_continuum","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b6d796be6337a9688b6e065532f1be27bf69a98f06ddc7a6dda2c9cbbcf4078?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cc_continuum"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carecloud.com\/continuum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}