The Bridge Blog

If you are in healthcare, you have likely heard of the latest buzzword on the tip of everyone’s tongues: patient engagement. It refers to the process by which patients become active partners in their health. Ever since CMS made it the main focus of Meaningful Use Stage 2, it has…Read more

Many patient portal vendors employ strategies to help physicians meet Meaningful Use requirements; however, their software does not necessarily present an efficient or effective way for patients to access to their electronic health records. Some patient portals, for example, only support medical billing exchanges and don’t provide clinical information. Others…Read more

Your healthcare organization’s website may be getting a good amount of traffic, but are people taking action once they’re there? If you haven’t figured out how to capitalize on the traffic your website gets, you could be missing out on thousands of dollars in easy-to-capture revenue each year – and…Read more

Helathcare interoperability has become a hot topic in the world of health IT – yet due to its inherent complexity, it remains the biggest hurdle to efficient and effective use of communication across a broad spectrum of systems and solutions. Whether healthcare organizations are using EMRs, telemedicine, patient portals, mHealth…Read more

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) stipulates that patients must be permitted to review and amend their medical records. As online patient portals and other information technologies make medical records more accessible to patients, it is going to become more commonplace for patients to review their records routinely.…Read more

How many times per week does your office receive appointment requests from patients? Although some physicians and hospital administrators may have an idea, most don’t know the answer to this question. Estimates range from 30 to 50 for small practices to more than 500 for large hospitals. Regardless of what…Read more

“If you build it, will they come?” Most discussions these days about patient portals and attaining Meaningful Use Stage 2 criteria are centered around the technical aspects. But while a patient portal provides a gateway for communication and is a great way to engage patients, it doesn’t ensure that patients…Read more

Communication is an integral component of patient engagement, but it isn’t easy to accomplish – particularly due to the fact that people communicate, process and interpret interactions differently. There are some ways, however, to overcome communication barriers. Healthcare professionals need to understand that successful patient engagement strategies require patience. In…Read more

We’re excited to be launching the Bridge Patient Portal Patient Engagement Blog! The blog will be a useful source of information for physician practices, hospitals, telemedicine businesses and other healthcare organizations regarding patient engagement, patient portal software, other healthcare technologies, and more. We’ll be updating the blog with articles and news stories frequently, so check…Read more