With the advent of social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, a tremendous hype was generated by being in constant touch with one another. By virtue of this phenomenon, staying in touch round the clock via instant messaging where any physical boundaries or restrictions were absent became the new norm. This simple and effective means of communication delivered a great value for all business entities alike. The absence of employing such useful technology would project a negative image into the mind of your clients. Health IT vendors could not afford to lose in this department; hence, to provide a solution to this predicament patient portals emerged. Through the introduction of patient portals by established EMR vendors, hassle for patients along with physicians was significantly reduced.
“Patient Portals provide a platform for patients to stay connected with their providers. Instantaneous access to all the patients’ reports, scheduling appointments etc. has made life easy for patients comprehensively. These portals eliminate the requirement for making phone calls every time a patient might have a health related query. It was never as simplistic to manage your patients’ health prior to patient portals”, says an Ohio based physician.
For the healthcare industry today, the Patient Portal has emerged as the definitive platform for better patient engagement. The technology is so simplistic in nature that patients find it very user friendly to utilize and can operate it almost immediately with little or no training. All any patient has to do is simply login to the online web based portal in order to remain connected with their doctor. They can do this from any place and at any time; needless to say that this freedom of mobility ensued in numerous benefits. Now both patients and doctors didn’t have to incur the unnecessary costs on lengthy phone calls to one another. Reports could be obtained online, alongside other relevant medical information. Even requesting refills and scheduling appointments was made simple, at the convenience of just a few clicks away.
With the position of implementing patient portals solidified as per the guidelines dictated by stage 2 of meaningful use, it’s easy to construe the popularity of these online portals amidst patients. The government has seen its effectiveness and deemed it an integral part of care delivery. Seeing the rate at which technology is progressing over the past couple of years, expecting to see virtual clinical checkups in the future might not be farfetched for some people. One thing is certain, as technology progresses in healthcare, so do the expectations of care delivery and efficiency within a practice.
