Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/692604
96 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP TR: We're learning that simply putting measures in front of doctors at the point-of-care is insufficient to drive outcomes. e doctor needs to follow up with patients and reach them where they are to ensure there are results. Essentially, it's not just portal adoption, it's omni-channel communication to close gaps. PS: e more information providers are able to give to patients, the more engaged patients will be in their health. By using the portal, providers are enabling patients to directly engage in their healthcare. ey can come in educated and ask pointed questions instead of having to process complex laboratory information in the office. It also does technically check a box as it relates to Meaningful Use mandates and enables reporting of that information. Q: There's a quote in your presentation by [health IT strategist] Leonard Kish that notes, "If patient engagement were a drug, it would be the blockbuster drug of the century and malpractice not to use it." How are portals increasing patient engagement? TR: At present, there has been such a reduction in time that a physician has with any given patient that both the patient and provider feel completely ripped off. Providers and patients are essentially trying to squeeze a lifetime of being human into a seven- minute visit. It's emotionally impossible to connect. Engagement between visits is the key to helping the doctor understand the patient and to building a real relationship with the patient. e portal allows for that in an easy way. Q: During your presentation you note that a good portal adoption strategy needs to be built on an ambulatory base. Can you elaborate on this and how you think portals can be used in the inpatient space? TR: Originally patient portals were primarily used by hospitals because they were the only ones with the money to buy them. e hospitals were quick to adopt because they wanted to be able to connect with patients as consumers and they felt the portal was key to doing this. at said, most care doesn't currently happen in a hospital setting. Most patients see doctors in the primary or ambulatory care settings; the portal needs to be used by the people who are actually seeing the patient most oen. As for use in the inpatient space moving forward, as we move to value-based reimbursement, the portal can be a key instrument in population health management. Q: In the presentation, you also discuss how portal adoption can drive retention, which in turn yields financial benefits. What are some of the strategies providers should use to drive engagement after adoption has occurred? TR: Once adoption has occurred, the key is to drive regular, meaningful engagement. Providers need to surface relevant information via the portal that actually educates patients and creates value, not unsolicited information that patients don't need. Establishing a cadence and rhythm of regular touch points that are genuine — lab results, patient education during flu season, etc. — those types of component are key. PS: One of the key things is calls to action, or CTAs; giving patients ways to engage with the portal. When providers offer more content, the patient starts to see the portal as a valuable tool, and it gives the provider a competitive advantage for his or her practice. Another strategy is driving patients to the portal to do appointment scheduling. In addition, make it easy for patients to pay online with the portal. Essentially, give patients more reasons to engage in the portal. A key part of this strategy is that portal adoption isn't a single point in time. Providers should advertise the portal in every visit and encounter. Even on telephone hold messages when patients call, providers can include language telling patients they can book appointments or pay through the portal. Q: To what do you attribute Summit's success with high portal adoption and engagement rates? PS: We used the power of the group — physicians, office staff and administration were all engaged in the process. Everyone bought in and had the responsibility to shape how Summit did patient engagement with portal. In addition, we had a very active office strategy — for example, putting office staff in high volume areas to get patients to sign up on the spot. Lastly, we are constantly advertising the portal — again it's important not to treat adoption as a single point in time strategy. Q: How does Summit plan to continue to use portals and/ or drive patient engagement? Any specific projects or initiatives the organization is looking to accomplish? PS: We are continuing to increase what types of appointments are available for online scheduling. We are continuing to drive collections via the portal. We are also experimenting with messaging on the portal — how we use the portal to help us become a paperless office, whether there are more intake check-ins we can complete online — especially when patients are checking in at high volume times. Q: Any additional thoughts or anything you would like attendees to know about? PS: Providers should consider that as consumers gain more power in the marketplace, their expectation for open data will become greater. ey will want easy, open access to their medical information. A portal is the first step to providing that. Other industries have figured out how to give customers access via technology and solved for many of the pain points — you don't have to fax your bank to get your latest statement, do you? You simply log online and there it is. Healthcare should be no different. We should move out of the mindset that healthcare is different than other industries. n The current incarnation of the patient portal is not what the patient wanted; it's what organized medicine decided the patient wanted. — Dr. Todd Rothenhaus