4 Patient Engagement Tools Used To Increase Patient Portal Usage

Patient engagement is a necessary element for the achievement of a better quality of care and it is a critical component of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) initiative to focus on the quality of care.  CMS programs like the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act, MACRA, are fundamentally changing the reimbursement matrix for healthcare in the United States by shifting the focus from fee for service to reimbursement for quality.  Thus, determining the right patient engagement solution has become increasingly important for healthcare organizations.

A patient portal can increase a health organization’s ability to keep patients engaged and healthy. Furthermore, it facilitates the obtainment of MACRA goals. In order to succeed, however, physicians and staff must know how to properly leverage the portal to improve communication and boost engagement.

Here are four ways  to promote patient engagement technology, like patient portals,  to maintain an engaged patient population and improve patient outcomes

1. Raise Awareness about the Patient Engagement Technology

Does your organization have a strategy for promoting patient engagement technology? Simply implementing a patient portal  is not enough. Patients need to know that the technology is available to them and how they can benefit from using it.

To provide an initial introduction to the patient portal, you can have staff assist patients with portal registration at check-in or check-out and provide step-by-step instructions for entering demographic and insurance information required for that day’s visit. Making tablets or kiosks available at check-in is a great way for patients to begin this process. You can send patients home with a handout about the portal in order to reinforce the message. Hanging posters promoting the portal in the waiting room and exam rooms is also a very cost-effective way to raise awareness about the patient engagement technology that you are promoting.

If your organization has a website, you will want to promote the portal by placing a link to the page in a prominent place with a strong call to action. Sending an email blast to your entire patient database is another great way to raise awareness.

2. Assign a Care Coordinator

If your healthcare organization uses patient care coordinators to promote health awareness and help patients reach their care goals, you know how integral these individuals are to successful patient engagement technology implementation.  Care Coordinators work with the physician and patient to develop a care plan, they communicate the provider’s plan to the patient, and they continually assess the patient’s needs. They also play a vital role in adoption of patient engagement technology by by promoting patient portal features that open lines of communication and streamline care plan management.

3. Strengthen the Physician’s Role

Physicians have one of the most important roles in promoting a patient engagement solution, like a patient portal.. A recent survey by the New England Journal of Medicine Insights Council, found that physician buy-in is essential to the adoption of patient engagement technology.  Patients are much more likely to use a new technology if their physician wants them to use it. It is important to note that the physician’s role does not end after suggesting a new patient engagement technology, many patients will require reinforcement of the idea.  For example, once patients are using a patient portal, their physician should mention the portal at each visit and specifically refer to a feature in which the patient might find value.

4. Highlight Useful Features

Your patient portal can do a lot of things, but chances are that most of your patients do not care about all of the portal’s features. Instead of overwhelming patients with information, tell them about the features that they are most likely to use. This includes things that make it easier for patients to manage their health and to perform otherwise time-consuming tasks online – for example, features that give them the ability to:

• Send and receive secure messages from their physician
• Access lab results without having to wait for a callback from the physician’s office
• Schedule appointments without having to call the office
• Request medication refills online

As patients get more comfortable using the new patient engagement technology, your organization may choose to start an email newsletter or awareness campaign to market new features. This process can be simplified if you have a patient engagement platform that provides email notifications using templates customized for your hospital or practice.

What it all boils down to is how the patient feels after each portal experience. If the first experience with the patient portal is a pleasant one, the more likely the patient is to continue using it.