In part one of this blog we covered some of the basics on why it’s so important for your clinic to have patient portals, and some tips to help you get more patients to engage with your practice on the portal. This not only benefits you by meeting MIPS requirements for Promoting Interoperability (PI) scoring, but also benefits patients with better access to their health information and the ability to communicate with your clinic as needed to maintain or improve their health.
Here are a few more tips to help you make the most of your portal engagement.
4: Clinical Staff
Everyone on your team should be involved in promoting your patient portal, from the front desk check-in receptionists to medical assistants, nurses, and providers. Create a simple script for each person to follow so they can provide good instructions to patients on the benefits, how to sign up, and how to use the portal. Have providers introduce and personally invite patients to use the portal. Many patients trust their providers and will be more likely to use it if they think the provider believes it will be beneficial to their care.
5: Engage Every Patient
One of the biggest mistakes clinics can make is to assume that because a patient is older, he or she would not want or would not be able to use the portal. Most patients today have a good understanding of technology, including those over the age of 65 (more than half own a smartphone, a number that is growing significantly). Promote the portal to every patient, show them how to use it through an app or on a desktop, and let them decide if they believe it’s beneficial.
6: Ease of Use
Finally, make sure when you choose the portal you want to use at your practice that you find one that is easy and intuitive for everyone—your patients and your staff. That is perhaps one of the most critical factors in determining whether or not people will use it. It definitely needs to be integrated with your EHR and offering patients both a web-based and app-based option for accessing the portal makes it easy for patients to decide how they want to engage. Having access through a mobile phone also ensures that patients without access to reliable internet services or who cannot afford a computer can still get their health data through the portal.
When you’re ready to get a patient portal for your clinic, contact AdvancedMD to find out more about our easy, intuitive platform.
