How Do Patient Portals Increase Patient Engagement?

Transparency plays an important role in today's patient-centric health care. Patients want to be informed about their health, so they desire direct access to their medical records. Patient portals fulfill users' needs to be part of their health care by providing patients with their medical information, as well as means of immediate communication with their doctors.

Portals not widely used
At the end of 2014, 64 percent of Americans were not using their patient portals, according to HIT Consultant. Of those who do not take part in the online portal, 35 percent said they did not know one existed while 31 percent claimed their doctors did not inform them about the system.

Patient portals provide users with various capabilities to take part in their health care. People have access to medical appointment scheduling, health records and lab results. However, email is the most important aspect of patient portal. This increases patient engagement by allowing them to contact their physicians with questions, personal information updates and errors in their records, explained Reuters. As stated on HIT Consultant, 83 percent of baby boomers would use or already use patient portals to contact their doctors, while others would use the system to schedule appointments (70 percent), review medical records and lab results (64 percent) and order prescription refills (58 percent).

Proactive roles in health care
Many people currently do not have specifics about their health aside from conditions and treatments. However, patient portals can provide people with this information about their health. According to HIT Consultant, 57 percent of millennials want access to their medical records and 44 percent would like to see personal recommendations from their health care providers. In a technology-heavy society, the ability for patients to see their medical histories is simplified through the use of EHR software, which they can access from any device.

More and more patients are gaining an interest in their health records, and doctors need to come up with a way to cater to that desire. By allowing patients to see their information, they are able to ask questions about their health and lessen their fears, Reuters explained. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora provided patients with access to EMR software and found that the number of worried patients dropped from 42 percent to 18 percent after seeing their records.

With patients requesting information about their medical records from their physicians, establishing a means of providing this data becomes necessary. Patient portals give users access to documents they did not previously have to further understanding of their conditions while doctors sharing EHRs with patients permits shared decision making by providing all the information for those involved.

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Ronny Bachrach

Marketing Director at Viztek LLC

Responsible for all marketing activities including, press, advertising, trade show coordination, website management, dealer and customer communications.