As healthcare providers are started moving towards smart ways to improve patient engagement, the emphasis on patient portal adoption has grown enormously. Setting up a good patient portal is not only enough to drive better engagement. Instead, they also need to get their patients to sign up for the portal, as well. As we already explained how to get your patients to sign up with the patient portal, in this article we reveal the secrets about how to improve your patient portal adoption.

The Importance Of Patient Portal

Healthcare organizations still use the patient portal to accomplish several tasks, like securely message their patients, get appointments on the books, and coordinate across an entire suite of tertiary patient engagement tools. More recently, healthcare organizations have noticed the power the patient portal has to host telehealth and other remote care access options, something that saw something of a boom during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most experts anticipate that the boom will last long after the pandemic subsides.

And at the height of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, many organizations noted they will lean on the patient portal to alert patients when they have become eligible for the shot and to even book the appointment on the tool. But the problems of the past still seem to beleaguer healthcare organizations, which instead of working on meaningful use attestation are trying to coordinate complex care delivery with the help of technology.

The challenge is twofold. Foremost, organizations need to make sure they have near-universal patient portal signups, something that remains elusive. And once those signups are in place, organizations need to make sure patients are activated to access those accounts.

RELATED: HOW PATIENT PORTALS IMPROVE PATIENT ENGAGEMENT?

How To Improve Patient Portal Adoption?

Patient Outreach Is The Key To Increase Patient Portal Adoption

Fundamental to getting patients to register for the patient portal is telling them about it. Discussing patient portal signup during an in-person or virtual healthcare visit is a key step to improving sign-up rates. Healthcare organizations can lean on the strategies they used during the meaningful use era to try and drum up patient buy-in for the technology. Outlining the benefits patients might see—including seamless access to their medical records, appointment scheduling, prescription refills, and several other functions—could be beneficial.

But if history is any indication, healthcare professionals may consider the other benefits most patients, not just those with chronic illness or who otherwise regularly visit their clinicians, will see. Those benefits have become more pronounced as other patient engagement technologies have become more advanced.

For example, the CapMinds patient portal helps healthcare practices to achieve Meaningful Use 2 securely and to increase productivity by reducing patient no-show rates along this patients can also get access to the telehealth services.

Concentrate On Hard To Reach Population For Better Portal Adoption

For some populations, patient portal outreach may require variable approaches. Some patients may benefit from their clinician walking them through the sign-up process, while others may need instructions in a language that is not English. For others more concerned about potential security issues, they may need their clinicians to offer up a positive review for the technology or learn more about why the technology is beneficial.

RELATED: 6 UNIQUE TIPS TO IMPROVE YOUR PATIENT PORTAL USAGE

Use Patient Portal In Covid-19 Vaccination Efforts

It is undeniable that the patient portal has seen a critical use case in the COVID-19 pandemic. At the start of the pandemic, healthcare organizations leveraged the tool to give patients some information about the virus and how they can keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

The technology also proved critical in remote chronic disease management, as secure messaging and built-in telehealth options helped patients and providers connect during stay-at-home orders. And as noted above, health technology developers have been eyeing the patient portal as instrumental for showing COVID-19 test results and vaccination records as patients prepare to re-enter normal life.

To that end, it will be incumbent upon clinician organizations to emphasize how important the patient portal adoption is for all of its populations. Patients who know they can book their COVID-19 vaccine appointment using the tool will be more likely to take it up, suggesting organizations need to be proactive about this. It may be helpful to scan the entire patient population to detect who has not signed up for the technology and conduct targeted outreach. That outreach can explain that the tool will be important in learning more about the vaccine.

Final Thoughts

With the emerging usage of digital platforms in the healthcare sector, secure patient portals showed positive results in healthcare due to their advanced capabilities in delivering quality care for patients. CapMinds specializes in offering the best patient portal software – helps to generate bigger revenue for your medical establishments and also improves your patient portal adoption rate.