Outline
Patient Portal platform is being embraced by health care institutions as a constructive tool to enhance patient engagement levels. A patient portal provides a secure and encrypted platform for patients to access their health information round the clock via smartphone devices and tablets. With broadband connectivity from almost everywhere, the patient portal facility is being used readily.
Patients can view their test results and track medications and immunizations in a breeze. Educational resource content is also made available which makes patients feel an important part of their healthcare process.
Features of a Patient Portal
The patient portal platform should offer HIPAA compliance to ensure the safety and protection of sensitive patient data that is shared. Apart from tight security to protect from any technology breaches it consists of the following set of tools:
- Patient Allergy Data
- Electronic Lab Results
- Doctor Visits
- Discharge Summaries
- Detailed Immunization Record
Types of Patient Portals
There are two types of patient portals mainly integrated patient portal software and standalone patient portals.
With many software vendor options, a standalone EHR Software may not offer complete benefits. Usually, Electronic Health Records software provides integration with the patient portal and Practice Management (PM) solutions. The integrated patient portal software services provide a better solution as updates for both the EHR software and the portal will be done together, therefore, proving seamless integration.
A standalone patient portal is hosted by a third party vendor through the cloud. A standalone patient portal usually offers more features however some vendors might create problems to create a bridge to integrating with your Electronic Health Record System.
Which Patient Portal Option is better?
If a separate EHR Software and standalone patient portal are purchased it consumes more time for integration. It takes almost 3 to 6 months for the two different companies to sync their software together.
An integrated patient portal software purchase is a quick solution. The thing you need to take care of is training in time to catch up with the start date of Stage 2. An integrated patient software purchase will technically work better, with many EHR vendors offering integrated robust solutions to offer all in one workflow efficiencies. The following diagram shows three different EHR vendors proving integration solutions.
Resources:
(2020). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://technologyadvice.com/patient-portal-software/
What is a Patient Portal? | Benefits, Features & Selection. (2020). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://www.selecthub.com/medical-software/what-is-patient-portal-how-help-medical-practices/
The future of patient portals. (2020). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://www.medicaleconomics.com/business/future-patient-portals
health, P. (2020). Patient portals – an online tool for your health: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 7 April 2020, from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000880.htm
