Portals aren’t just the realm of science fiction. They’re a very useful tool in real life, allowing patients and medical professionals to share, store, and discuss health care-related information. What are some ways that portals involve patients in their care? https://eyecareleaders.com/benefits-of-patient-portals/

1. How do Online Patient Portals Benefit Patients?
Portals aren’t just the realm of science fiction. They’re a very useful tool in
real life, allowing patients and medical professionals to share, store, and
discuss health care-related information.
What are some ways that portals involve patients in their care?
Schedule appointments online
Appointment scheduling is one of the biggest benefits that patient portals
provide.
Letting people schedule appointments themselves could be convenient.
Instead of being surprised and interrupted by phone calls at unexpected
times, people have the ability to go online and explore appointment options
at their own convenience.
When scheduling, patients could refer to their own calendars and
the scheduling calendars on their portals, making it easier to determine the
times that work and don’t work. If their schedules change, they could enter
portals again to check their calendars and make changes.
They might want to call the offices and speak to people in person if they
want to make a last-minute change or cancellation, though, especially if
their medical offices charge fees for late changes or their appointment is for
that same day.
Review results of labs and tests
Looking up the results of tests and labs is another benefit of patient portals.
It can be challenging to remember the numbers and other results of
medical tests, especially if people are unfamiliar with the tests and
terminologies themselves.
Placing information from electronic health records (EHRs) onto medical
portals gives patients exact numbers and results. These listings allow
patients to access their personal data anytime and any place, which could
be useful if they live far from their medical team, have questions, are
planning to visit other medical professionals, or need to use this information
for other purposes.

2. In addition, patients might be embarrassed to ask for results, especially if
they’re modest and their tests and lab work relate to private body parts or
functions. Going online could circumvent this awkwardness while still
answering questions.
Check and pay bills
Online health information on portals could also help patients deal with
insurance companies and pay their bills.
Insurance providers want thorough, updated information about medical
conditions before they’ll pay for their treatment. Patients can log onto
portals to view all this information and share it with insurance companies or
programs if they’ve requested it.
Or, since their portals are connected to their doctors’ electronic health
records and practice management systems, patients might not need to
send this information themselves. Instead, they could see the information
that their doctors offices’ have already shared with their medical insurers.
By engaging with portals, patients might be able to pay their bills online.
They could also find records of how much they’ve paid their doctors, how
much they still have to pay, and other information. This could help them
with budgets, taxes, and other financial matters.
View prescription information
Using portals also helps patients view and apply information about their
prescriptions.
It could be hard to keep track of several medications, especially for patients
who might struggle with dementia or other challenges. Portals list a
patient’s medications, their dosages, and instructions for using them.
Having this information could be useful if patients are having health
difficulties and think their medications could be one of the reasons why. It
could also be handy if they’re visiting other doctors who might be
prescribing them other drugs that could cause interactions.
Finally, portals might allow patients to refill their prescriptions and provide
information about where they want these prescriptions filled. Studies have
found that patients who use portals to fill their medications are more likely
to use their prescriptions. Just like paying bills, portals could make filling
and using prescriptions more convenient.

3. Interact with staff members
Working in the medical field involves asking and answering questions.
But what happens if patients want these answers outside your office hours
or can’t travel to an office to ask a quick question or two? Portals could
provide the solution.
Portals allow patients to send questions and information to medical
professionals online. They allow health care workers to answer these
questions, ask their own, and provide other information.
Medical practices that offer useful information and timely responses in
these portals show they care about their patients and what they have to
say. In fact, some patients have admitted that the availability of portals is
what prompted them to choose certain medical practices over others.
Benefits of patient portals for your office
Online portals benefit more than just patients. They could also help the
healthcare practices that offer them.
Gather and store accurate information
Medical files are always changing, with new information being added
frequently.
If practices need to update their patient’s records and inform them about
these changes, they can make a note in the portal that sends them an
automatic email or text message.
Similarly, patients can send their doctors brief email or text messages
through their portals. The messages will be stored with other
communication and their medical information, making it easy to store,
access, and cross-check information for future purposes.
Create more efficient, faster appointments
Adding and accessing information in portals could also improve in-person
office visits.
Medical professionals might ask patients to provide information before their
appointments. This might include their blood pressure readings or
descriptions of their latest symptoms over a period of days.

4. Having records of a patient’s recent health status could alert medical
professionals if something is wrong or patients should see them or receive
other medical assistance sooner.
Professionals could analyze this data and look for trends and patterns,
which could help them diagnose and treat conditions quicker. Data could
help them determine what to do next.
Reduce time spent on the phone and asking questions in person
Digital portals and their data could also help other medical professionals in
other ways.
Since the information contained in them could provide quick, accurate
answers to a wide variety of questions, patients might not need to interact
with medical staff members as much. Sure, people might ask questions
online, but questions via email are likely to be shorter, more focused, and
easier to research than ones asked during an examination when lots of
other things are occurring.
Do you want to know more about portals and how they could assist your
patients and your practice? Contact Eye Care Leaders. We’ll answer your
questions about portals and other digital matters and help you find online
answers to your questions.