What is a Patient Portal ? Its Benefits & Challenges

A significant transformation has been observed in the healthcare industry—all thanks to ever-evolving technology. Healthcare workers from all across the globe have started embracing all aspects of technology, such as telemedicine, online patient portals, EMR—electronic medical records—and many more. Among these developments, the patient portal has become essential, although it remains a debatable topic among business owners. 

The following post will focus on clearing the air about what a patient portal is and what it is meant to do. How is a patient portal created by a reliable custom healthcare software development company beneficial for your healthcare business in the long run? We are also set to discuss the common challenges faced by healthcare providers when using patient portals. So, let’s get started!

1. What is a Patient Portal?

A patient portal is a secure online system that is capable of meticulously managing patient’s health records. It keeps track of all the records, whether it already has or the ones that your healthcare professional has fed into the record system. This secure healthcare system is like your personal healthcare professional, which takes care of all such aspects. In addition,  the portal also keeps your contact information updated so that the doctor in charge knows exactly whom to inform.

This will be more clear with an example where you can assume that you have a full-time nurse by your side. She does everything concerning your health right from booking doctor’s appointments to referring prescriptions, analyzing test results, keeping account of your medical history and all personal health information, if you are allergic to something, and similar other information, etc. Today, the advancement in technology has been increasing to such an extent that you can visit your doctor virtually with the help of a patient portal. In other words, you no longer need to physically visit the doctor now and then for a minor wound, as it is possible via patient portals. Overall, patient portals do play a significant role in enhancing patient engagement with healthcare providers.

The patient portal market was valued at USUS$ 4.35 billion in 2023 and it is projected to reach US$ 17.27 billion by 2031; it is expected to grow CAGR of 18.80% during 2023–2031.

2. Key Features of Patient Portal

Any application has some must-have and some nice-to-have functionalities. The same is true for patient portal applications. Users or patients access such applications for various purposes. However, the number of users taking advantage of this technological enhancement is much less compared to users accessing shopping websites, social media, travel applications, etc. Therefore, healthcare applications still require a lot of improvement for users to utilize them in their health and wellness journey. 

Integrating some core characteristics into patient portal designs increases their acceptability. Below are some of the main features any patient portal must have for efficient operation. 

2.1 Appointment Scheduling

The patient portal allows users to book online appointments with the doctor they want to consult without visiting the hospital and waiting in the queue. The app also shows the availability of the doctors and their schedules. 

2.2 Viewing Bills and Making Payments

The patient portal shows you the bill after you have consulted a doctor or taken any sort of treatment. You can check the bill and make online payments which are secure and flexible. This is a transparent feature of this portal which shows all the medical spending in one place.

2.3 Filling Out Pre-Visit Forms

Before visiting any doctor, hospital staff asks you to fill out a pre-visit form and write down all your concerns. This process can take a bit of time, and you will have to sit in a queue for the doctor’s checkup after filling out that form. But, with a patient portal, you can do this procedure online which means that by the time you reach the hospital, your pre-visit process is done.

2.4 Prescription Refill Alerts

Many medications and treatments go on for a long time. For example, diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol, cancer, etc. require lifetime medications. In such cases, mostly the same prescribed medicines are taken lifelong. Hence, you are required to refill your prescription at regular intervals. You might have experienced many times when a doctor told you to take the prescribed medicines for a particular period and then come for a check-up. He refines your prescription. For this, you again have to make an appointment with the medical practitioner and ask him for a prescription refill. It may lead to unnecessary delays and gaps in medication usage as a result of lapsed prescriptions.

The patient portal can include a feature for prescription refill alerts to keep patients informed without the need to schedule appointments. Many rare medicines and drugs are challenging to obtain at the required time. In such cases, prescription refill alerts would inform providers so that they ensure that the required stock is available in a timely manner. 

2.5 Sign-up and Log-in

The patient portal enables users to sign up and log in to get secure access to their healthcare details.

2.6 Patient Account and Dashboard

The patient dashboard provides an overview of every patient account on the portal. It shows their current treatment, prescriptions, and upcoming appointments along with their medical history.

2.7 Telehealth

Telehealth helps patients to have frictionless communication with the doctors, decreases in-person hospital visits, and reduces response time.

2.8 Easy Access to Patient Info

The next feature is accessibility. If there is no accessibility in regard to health information, then there is no point in having such online platforms. The portal acts as a coordinator between the patients and medical professionals. It offers a range of services, including educational materials to refill prescriptions and to provide patients with self-management ways of dealing with their health. Not to mention that all of this patient’s health information adheres to HIPAA compliance and other regulations.

2.9 Easy Payments

Another aspect to take into consideration is the availability of easy payment options. The world is moving, and with digital money, everyone wants to roam cashless. So, introducing easy payments for healthcare businesses will enhance user experience and accessibility.

Making payments for insurance support, lab results, or any other medical expenses is easy. Secure and convenient payment options make it easy to feel confident.

3. Benefits of Using Patient Portals

Now that you know what a patient portal is. It’s time to unveil the advantages of using a secure online website. Of course, access to health information technology 24*7 is the most obvious benefit. But apart from these, there are several others. Which we will be going through further in the post!

But before that, let us once again review the core health services of a patient portal. It allows you to contact a healthcare professional directly and receive instant messages regarding appointment bookings, ordering prescription refills, paying bills, checking lab results, medical record history, immunizations, vaccinations, allergies, online checkups, and more!

Some of the vital benefits of the Patient portal are – 

3.1 Communication

By using patient portals, communication becomes more effective between healthcare organizations and their patients. Portal requires a strong internet connection to coordinate with their healthcare clinicians at any point in time. By filling out their personal information, medical history, and allergies, it becomes way easier for the doctor to communicate and prescribe the appropriate solutions. They can easily understand what exactly the patient needs.

Communication is very important if you want to improve patient care.  

3.2 One-Stop-Shop

Another advantage of using a patient portal is that it acts as a one-stop shop for health information. Here, you can access everything from your recent lab results to EMRs and electronic health records, request prescription refills, and view annual health care expenses.

Here, healthcare professionals have to ditch the paperwork and are no longer required to waste time in finding relevant prescriptions or bills as everything can be found on patient portals. All that is required is a strong internet connection.

3.3 Patient Care is the Ultimate Focus

Earlier, healthcare organizations were supposed to handle various responsibilities. Apart from taking care of their patients, professionals were pretty much involved in administrative and management tasks. Fortunately, after the dawn of platforms such as the patient portal, things pretty much changed. Physicians are no longer distracted by administrative tasks, and everything is taken care of electronically by healthcare organizations.

3.4 Reduced Medical Errors

Another crucial advantage of using the patient portal is that human medical errors can be reduced to a great extent. The key is to find a reliable healthcare app development company that can offer the best possible healthcare app development service fees. Here, whatever information the patient portals provide is on point and accurate. So there is no scope for any misinterpretation, all the parties, including patients and healthcare professionals, are well-informed. Therefore, prompt and appropriate decisions can be made in a short period.

3.5 24/7 Access To Medical Records

Patient portals let you see your health information anytime and anywhere you want. Just click a button, and all your test reports, doctor visits, medicine prescriptions, doctor’s notes, etc., become available on the screen. If you are going to a new doctor and you require the history of previous treatment, you don’t need to search for all the papers anywhere, and by chance, if lost, you don’t need to call the clinic or hospital and wait for them to give you the required documents. Just imagine how convenient and time-saving it is. It increases the health consciousness among patients along with an increase in the transparency and accessibility of such personal information, resulting in patients’ trust and engagement. 

4. Challenges Faced While Implementing Patient Portals

After all, the patient portal has significantly improved with the advancement of technology. However, there are specific challenges that you may have to face sooner or later.

4.1 Technical Hurdles

Patient portals must be designed with all types of users in mind. Many users aren’t digitally sound enough to understand the functions and operations of such advanced applications as patient portals. For such users, the user interface should be as simple and intuitive as possible so that they can easily navigate through all the portal sections. They must even be provided with proper guidance and training to enhance their technical skills. 

4.2 Security

The patient portal deals with patient’s highly sensitive personal information hence, it’s most susceptible to data breaches and cyber attacks. Privacy is a significant concern in refraining users from using such portals altogether. Many times, we log in using any public Wi-Fi. Such public networks may be unsafe as they can be a target for hackers. Patients, especially those above 40 years of age, are more concerned regarding the use of patient portals. Users must use strong passwords and avoid using the same password for multiple accounts on multiple sites to prevent such attacks. 

Patients and healthcare providers need to be cautious while using patient portals. They must ensure that these portals are well-assessed for security and comply with HIPPA standards and regulations. The patient portals must also implement advanced encryption mechanisms and multi-factor authentication for higher-level security. 

4.3 Information Overload

Patient portals contain a lot of information, such as health diseases, test reports, treatment options, etc. Generally, only some people are capable of understanding complex medical terms. Many times, they find it difficult to interpret the given information correctly and misunderstand it. They may even get confused when trying to read about a particular term in their test report from different sources by themselves. This can lead to unnecessary anxiety and false concerns related to a minor issue. People start speculating because they don’t have the right people around them to explain everything correctly. 

To prevent all this, the portal must be simple to understand, even for a layman with no medical knowledge. It must contain concise summaries, educational resources, user tours, etc., to ease the accessibility of the patient portal.

5. Final Remarks

Patient portals have proved to be an effective solution for modern healthcare challenges, simplifying healthcare delivery. They enforce the active participation of both healthcare providers and patients in modern medical practice. Though there are multiple benefits of such patient portals, they still have to go a long way to get accepted worldwide. Only 25-30% of users access these portals for various needs. The world is technologically advancing day by day; therefore, it becomes necessary to adopt such technical enhancements in the healthcare domain. Investing in the development of comprehensive and secured patient portals that streamline healthcare delivery and foster effective collaboration between healthcare providers and patients is urgently needed.   

We saw the necessary characteristics of a primary patient portal and its underlying advantages. Developing a user-centric portal dealing with such an important aspect requires significant time and effort to overcome all the possible challenges that can hinder the fulfillment of the desired objective. Therefore, organizations must follow a well-planned strategy before developing any patient portal. They must take appropriate measures and come up with a well-designed, user-friendly portal that engages a larger public and benefits them in the long run. 

FAQ

What is the Purpose of a Patient Portal?

The main aim of a patient portal is to offer patients 24-hour access to their personal health information from anywhere. With the use of a patient portal, they can get health information such as recent doctor visits, medications, discharge summaries, lab results, and more.

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Patient Portal?

Some of the major advantages of a patient portal are: 

• Improved communication with the doctors
• Better healthcare management
• Convenient access to medical records
• Better ability to track health

Some of the major disadvantages of a patient portal are: 

• Risk of data breach
• Information overload