Are Patient Portals Working?

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

According to research published by Medical Economics, patient portals launched for MU are not reaching their intended audiences.

Many physicians have set up online patient portals to communicate with their clients, but while meeting MU was the intended goal, many are falling short. According to an article published by Medical Economics, portals are not encouraging online traffic and aren’t improving care as promised.

“I have given up on the portal and qualifying for MU,” says Timothy Leigh Rodgers, MD, a solo internist in Santa Barbara, CA. “I think it is nice to have if people want to use it, but if they don’t, I don’t think I should be penalized for it.”

Fierce Health IT notes patient age, unresponsive staff, and confusing portal interfaces have left a sour taste in many patients’ mouths when it comes to online portals.

“You don’t want to think of portals and secure messaging tools as standardized. They are not all good,” says Robert Tennant, senior policy advisor with the Medical Group Management Association. “They range from reasonably good to extremely bad for both physicians and patients. Vendors are trying to make portals easy to use and secure, and that has been a challenge for the industry. But if you do find that balance, they can be extremely effective.”

Health IT Outcomes cited former healthcare executive Steve Wilkins, who said there are three reasons patient portals fail:

• forcing patients to do anything is wrong and antithetical to the whole idea of patient-centeredness, even if you think it is in the patient’s best interest
• patients want to engage with other people regarding their health, particularly their physicians
• the content on most patient portals is not particularly relevant or engaging after the first 10 seconds, at least from the patient’s perspective

To improve patient experience with portals, according to the article in Medical Economics:

• be responsive and be sure staff and physicians return messages from patients in a timely manner
• consider making the patient record, including physician notes, available via the portal
• know what you want to accomplish with your patient portal, including a strategy, goals and objectives
• get physicians and staff on board and promote the use of the portal and train employees on how to help patients access the portal