Where social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus generated hype amongst individuals, health IT vendors did not hold back at providing patients with more simple and efficient means of communication. Yes, it is the Patient Portal that I am referring to. Alongside providing healthcare professionals with tools like EMR and Practice Management, by introducing patient portals, renowned EMR vendors have enables patients to keep track of their health as well.
“Patients now have a platform to stay connected with their providers. Patient portals have simplified health management by providing patients with instantaneous access to all the reports etc. Managing health was never as easy as it is with patient portals”, says a Nebraska based physician.
Being part of the healthcare industry, we are all aware of the fact that patient portal is a definitive tool to ensure better patient engagement. Patients simply have to login to the web based portal to maintain connectivity with their physicians whenever they want. Patients have online access to their lab results and other relevant information. No longer do they need to incur additional costs of paying visits to the practice or making unnecessary telephone calls. Patients can schedule the appointments themselves and even request refills by making just a few clicks. Furthermore, considering the government’s focus towards patient engagement, in the meaningful use stage 2 requirements, one could easily construe the importance of patient portals and reason behind increasing popularity.
Alongside improving care coordination, patient portals are also considered to be the means of improving care quality. These solutions have come a long way to profoundly educate patients about the diseases and help them interact with physicians to better understand the diagnosis. On the flipside, even the healthcare professionals can benefit from patient portals. The availability of patient portals and streamlining of tasks gives physicians plenty of time to focus on their core responsibilities.
Health IT applications are persistently changing the norms of medical practices – replacing the conventional methodologies with the state of art technology. Having seen the features of EMR and patient portals and the pace of progress, expecting a virtual clinical checkup should not be absurd for people.
