Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/692604
95 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Beyond MU: The Value of Patient Portal Adoption By Todd Rothenhaus, MD, CMO, athenahealth, and Paul Shenenberger, CIO, Summit Health Management e patient portal is alive and well. e adoption of patient portals in physician practices was largely spurred by Meaningful Use requirements, but the potential for practices to leverage these tools to boost clinical and financial outcomes has not yet been filled. Many physicians view the patient portal as a check-the-box activity, but portals have the potential to drive engagement, retention, patient loyalty and health outcomes. At this year's HFMA, on Tuesday, June 28 from 2:00pm-3:15pm, Todd Rothenhaus, MD, chief medical officer of Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth and Paul Shenenberger, chief information officer of New Providence, N.J.-based Summit Health Management, will discuss the value of patient portals when they co-present on "Increasing Patient Portal Adoption to Improve Engagement and Financial Responsibility." e talk will explore how Summit, a physician-owned multispecialty practice, was able to significantly improve monthly revenue with patient portal adoption and utilization that goes beyond Meaningful Use. Dr. Rothenhaus will also offer insights from athenahealth's nationwide health information network. Here, Dr. Rothenhaus and Mr. Shenenberger share some additional insight on strategic and financial imperatives to adopting patient portals. Editor's note: Conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Question: Patient portal use and adoption has mostly been spurred by MU and still feels like a check-box activity for most physicians. Your presentation outlines some of the benefits of portal adoption. Which do you think is most important for physicians to know about? Dr. Todd Rothenhaus: Portal adoption is the first step in the process of end- to-end patient engagement. Patient engagement is essential to enabling patients to become participants in their own care. So physicians have to consider, if they are not on the platform, then how are they going to interact with patients? How will they easily share test results, or send reminders for critical care needs in a timely, efficient way? Dr. Paul Shenenberger: If you approach patient adoption from the check-box, you are missing value. e reality is that patients are reliant on online technology, and they expect it. ey use online banking, buy airline tickets online, shop online. So why shouldn't they be able to coordinate their healthcare online? Healthcare is behind. e advantage to physicians is twofold, first, the portal gives patients an opportunity to engage with providers in a medium they prefer and starts to address the competition that has developed with the retail care space. Healthcare, as with all other industries in our lives, should have a technology-first approach, not a technology-maybe approach. Providers should realize that today having a portal is a value add; tomorrow, it's a must have. ink about the OpenTable approach — have you ever not gone to a restaurant because the restaurant wasn't on OpenTable? One day it's going to be the same for a doctor's office. Patients will choose to go to providers that have the latest technology and convenience, notably portals. In addition, it serves as a revenue source. At Summit, a full third of our collections are done on the portal. Q: What are some of the myths associated with patient portal adoption? TR: A lot of people think that portal adoption is more aligned for primary-care-focused practices, but we have seen great use in the specialty space, notably orthopedic groups. It allows specialists to get access to information before the visit. Instead of having patients fill out information during the visit or spending time asking about and documenting history during the encounter, practices can send requests via the portal and obtain it before the visit. e age thing is another myth. Older patients also use the portal, contrary to popular belief. PS: One of the myths is that it takes more time to manage, but providers should realize that an appointment booked online is a phone call that didn't come into the office. e portal saves the office staff time so they can focus on more valuable tasks. Another myth is that the portal is not secure. As long as you have a certified EHR that practices health IT security, it is secure. It is ensured. You do have to be diligent of course, but it's secure. Lastly, there is myth that low income and senior populations won't use portals; the data shows that's not the case. Q: Chilmark Research published an article this year titled, "Kill the Patient Portal," which claims that the patient portal, as currently architected, is a complete dead-end. The article states that national efforts to promote portals have resulted in a huge mess and that it is highly unlikely the majority of the population will use portals by 2020. What are your thoughts on this claim? How are portals changing, or how will they change, to become more effective? TR: Killing the patient portal is like saying [we should] kill the website for Amazon. Chilmark is correct in saying medicine lags behind every other industry, and the portal is an example of that. e current incarnation of the patient portal is not what the patient wanted; it's what organized medicine decided the patient wanted. at is to say, the patient portal is an experience that is heavily reliant on a desktop and not a mobile platform. Since websites are dying in favor of mobile technology, we have to figure out a way to engage patients without requiring them to log on to a website. However, at athenahealth we are closing that gap. We are bringing people from other industries to help close that gap — we recognize patients need to use the portal in the way they use technology in other aspects of their lives. Q: How can portal adoption help physicians manage quality care mandates?