By turning patient portals into mobile apps, health care providers could potentially reach more people.

How Can Mobile Apps Help Patient Engagement?

Written by Ronny Bachrach on March 28, 2016. Posted in Digital Radiography and PACS, E.H.R., Scheduling, Software

In today's technological society, smartphones reign supreme over all other cellular devices. They have more abilities than a traditional cellphone and offer owners a wide range of uses. Aside from games, texting and phone calls, smartphones can also download applications, which may prove useful to the medical world. By turning patient portals into mobile apps, health care providers could potentially reach more people.

Lack of computers inhibit MU
According to the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of Americans own smartphones, nearly double those who did in 2011. Approximately 19 percent of them use their devices to access the Internet and Web-based services. These gadgets have come to replace computers in many households, which means fewer patients are interacting with online portals.

This could be detrimental to health care providers striving to meet the criteria of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' Meaningful Use program. While the proposed amendment for Stage 2 only requires one person to access their medical records through the patient portal, the suggested Stage 3 will call for 25 percent of a doctor's patients to do so. If people do not have computers or Internet access, they will not be much help in abiding by MU regulations. However, by taking advantage of the large percentage of Americans who have access to mobile apps, physicians could find new ways to interact with their patients.

Mobile apps helping with patient engagement
There are already an abundance of health care apps available for both iPhone and Android devices. People are already engaging in their own fitness through platforms that help monitor diet, exercise and health conditions. This information could go a long way toward helping their primary care physicians manage their patients' health.

In Research Now's survey of 500 health care professionals and 1,000 health app users, 86 percent of providers believe these platforms keep them informed about their patients' conditions and 96 percent of users claimed the apps helped improve their quality of life. More than 70 percent of doctors reported that the technology encouraged patients to be in charge of their own health. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration also estimates that 500 million smartphone users worldwide are currently using health apps. With the positive feedback from these two organizations, health care providers and hospitals could create mobile-friendly patient portals to increase engagement and satisfaction.

Mobile apps could be used for a variety of purposes, including accessing medical records, viewing lab results and aiding in medical appointment scheduling. By offering people more ways to work with their doctors to manage their health, health care providers may be able to reach MU goals more easily.

Contact Viztek for more information.

Ronny Bachrach

Ronny Bachrach

Marketing Director at Viztek LLC
Responsible for all marketing activities including, press, advertising, trade show coordination, website management, dealer and customer communications.
Ronny Bachrach
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