The Future Of Patient Portals: Trends And Best Practices
Electronic patient portals are a part of modern healthcare, and there
are clear benefits to such portals, as patients can view online sentry
health side of their medical information and access several other
services directly through a web interface with their physicians. By
having patient portals, patients can have the ability to see their
medical information and request appointments when needed, as well as
to have the ability to request prescriptions. This enables easy
patient access and eases administrative and management issues for
healthcare providers.
Healthcare will increasingly value and reward patient portals for
improving patient engagement, coordinating care, and managing patient
transitions that lead to better health outcomes, smoother
administrative processes, and enhanced patient engagement.
Within this framework, can we predict the future of patient portals as
emerging trends and best practices of these platforms begin to unfold?
The answer is yes. Once we understand these transformations,
healthcare organizations can get ahead of the coming changes in
patient behavior. They can then use patient portals to realize a more
personalized, efficient, and secure patient experience.
Patient portal technologies originated in the early 2000s and emerged as part of the broader trend to build digital health solutions. In the early days, these portals were fairly simple and offered basic access to simple tasks like patient records and appointments. However, as bigger data points flowed and response times to chasing down health data took a backseat to more people-centric models, patient portals evolved faster and more sophisticated. Modern patient portals, for example, interface with Electronic Health Records (EHRs), offer more functionality, and are central to most epistemic and patient-controlled healthcare models. This reflects a trend to allow patients more access and control over their health information while getting clinicians and others out of the middle of these interactions.
Patient portals today can have all sorts of familiar functions to make patient engagement and health management easier, make healthcare processes more efficient, and offer information that patients might otherwise have to call up and attempt to discuss with people who might or might not have the time. Common functions include viewing medical-record information such as lab results, medication lists, and notes from visits; scheduling and managing appointments; requesting prescription refills; messaging securely with a healthcare professional; viewing educational resources; and even managing one’s chronic condition on a given range of symptoms.
There are considerable advantages to current patient portal systems.
It would be useful for patients to be able to spend more time
integrating individual components of information for their personal
benefit. Electronic health records, equipped with portals or not, can
be motivating when patients can see the value of this kind of
investment. Portals appear to increase patient engagement by
facilitating access to and oversight of health information, enhance
the medicare business, improve communication and coordination between
patients and providers, expedite administrative tasks (no need to call
or fill out paperwork; little wasted time for the busy patient or
clinician) and enable timely assessment and treatment.
However, even current patient portals have a range of disadvantages.
User experience is highly variable, and some portals are not as
intuitive or as easy to use as they could be. In addition, not all
patients have equally good access to the technology infrastructure
needed to make the most of their portals – a situation that can
exacerbate health inequities. Data privacy and security are also
issues: the sensitive medical information that portals house needs to
be effectively safeguarded against attack by malicious actors who
would exploit it for personal gain. Some portals integrate clumsily
with the EHR systems already in use and do not offer a consistent set
of functionalities.
Combining AI and machine learning with patient portals has the potential to greatly improve patient care and engagement. AI-powered features could analyze individual patient health data to make tailored recommendations and give guidance that is specific to the patient. For instance, we could use AI algorithms to give patients personalized health advice, medication reminders, or lifestyle change suggestions according to the individual’s specific medical history and current health problems. Other AI-powered features could combine predictive analytics from machine learning with traditional data from medical records to anticipate healthcare issues before they happen. With this added ability to forecast future health problems, physicians would be better equipped to manage chronic diseases and help patients have better health overall.
Patient portals are increasingly associated with mobile-first and responsive designs to reflect the surging number of patients who access their health information on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This growing preference for digital accessibility has led more patient portals to adopt mobile-first design principles. Doing so supports the overall user experience by ensuring users can access a platform optimized for mobile device use. Designing a website to be mobile-first also best provides an accessible user interface for any device, again reflecting the multi-device landscape of individuals’ digital lives and preferences. Cross-platform functionality speaks to user-friendliness as digital portals interact seamlessly across multiple devices.
Integrating telehealth with the patient portal makes it easier than ever for patients to access their doctors. From a patient's point of view, telehealth becomes easier to use since everything can be done directly through the portal, including scheduling and taking the place of the video visit. This saves time and prevents having to log in again to manage a different platform. Having telehealth integrated as a portal feature creates a more seamless relationship between remote care and in-person care. It also improves follow-up monitoring since those management tasks can be included in the same place where the virtual visit and encounter notes are kept, making it more likely that important changes in findings will be reviewed promptly. Having video consultation, secure messaging, and access to a virtual care summary are enhanced features that allow patients to access their health information and manage their care through the patient portal.
Notably, robust data analytics and reporting tools are improving the quality of patient portals. Big data is allowing patient portals to provide individualized health insights and actionable health information for patients. Enhanced reporting tools also give patients and providers critical information about trends in health, efficacy of treatments, and overall wellness based on detailed health data. This data-driven approach helps patients to be engaged in their care by knowing more about their health status. It also empowers the providers to make better decisions based on meaningful health data. Advanced analytics allow a more proactive course of care and can lead to better outcomes in patients and more efficient primary healthcare delivery for providers.
Building a user-centric portal involves placing the interface above the database and the user’s needs before technology. The portal must be intuitive and easy to use. All the pages must have a consistent page layout, similar components, and a navigation bar for seamless usability. The features should be intuitive and accessible. The learning curve for the patient must be minimal; the portal should be easy to navigate and use, minimizing the barriers to accessing personal health information. What methods can designers use to gather this information? Feedback from actual users. Why should designers continue to collect feedback to ensure the interface and functionality keep improving? A portal that works well for one user probably works well for others. Updates based on user feedback can make the portal even more functional and user-friendly.
Ensuring appropriate security and privacy is done in designing patient portals with robust security architectures that incorporate, at least, encryption of data at rest and in transit, with appropriate compliance to regulations such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) that ensures patient data is processed according to the legal stipulations; regular periodic security audits to mitigate or remediate new security threats; and vulnerabilities for maintaining robust privacy and security of the portal data. In addition to providing security for the portal data, establishing robust security practices and processes establishes trust in the reliability of the portal.
Integrating a patient portal with electronic health records (EHRs) and other health IT (HIT) and meeting data exchange standards (e.g., HL7 and FHIR) will facilitate its use. When portal and EHR systems are integrated, physicians could get instant notifications of messages, updates to the patient’s EHR, and could respond to them through the EHR or the portal. Integration facilitates accurate and timely entry to the patient’s EHR, and when the systems are interoperable, it will help reduce ineffective silos of data that fragment continuity of care. Integration can help make the portal more useful.
Demonstrations and training can help patients to comprehend how to benefit from the portal. By including user guides, video tutorials, and frequently asked questions (FAQs), the clinic provides resources that systematically equip the patient to take action. Support, such as a helpdesk or online chat, should also be available to provide technical assistance or answer questions as needed. Even educational materials and support services can improve user experience in digital health when they are user-friendly and responsive.
To address these barriers, patient portals will need continued innovation for design and features that promote greater adoption. Many of these barriers relate to digital literacy. Older adults or those with little experience with technology are less likely to use patient portals. Improved technologies will help overcome these barriers, but in the meantime, patient portals will need to be user-friendly and straightforward and accommodate the variety of technological understandings of their many users. Were patient portals to allow adjustments for those who are blind or severely visually impaired, those with hearing disabilities, or agenda-blind individuals who have trouble staying focused on a screen – or simply patient with it – the agencies that run the portals would recognize it as addressing important access issues. Additionally, training sessions and support for patients expressing discomfort with digital literacy can help ease them.
The issue of expectations is an important concern for the evolution of the patient portals, both in terms of patient and provider expectations. For both patient and provider stakeholders, communicating the system's limits can prevent dissatisfaction with a portal that may be able to do some things but not others. It is essential for patients to communicate how a portal may allow them greater access to their information and create conduits for a smoother flow of information to and from their physicians. For providers, communicating what an interface may or may not be able to deliver about integrative capacity, granularity of data, and level of administrative work may be equally important. Minimizing the extent of misalignment between expectation and reality is especially critical for the continued successful acceptance and uptake of patient portals.
There is a compelling and constant need for updates. Healthcare organizations that want to use patient portals must find ways to build and maintain portals with technologically advanced features to match the breakneck pace of technological advancements. AI and machine learning need to be adopted and incorporated into the portal. Organizations should also integrate advanced data analytics to derive clinical insights from the data consumed and generated in their portals. This process requires a 'ready-to-change' approach to technology adoption, where healthcare organizations are proactive about assessing technological advancements and incorporating them into the design and architecture of their portal accordingly. The portal, therefore, needs to be consistently updated to include new features driven by technological advancements. It is also important to balance innovation with equilibrium, offering patients a reliable, usable experience, even with frequent updates and changes. Organizations need to rely upon scalable and adaptable technological solutions to keep up with changes in this dynamic technological landscape.
The future of patient portals will radically transform the way health care is delivered through increased patient engagement, greater care coordination and the use of advanced technologies. By harnessing emerging trends such as artificial intelligence, mobile delivery, and the expansion of telehealth, healthcare organizations can provide increased access to care more efficiently. Healthcare organizations must prioritize high-quality, best practices, including design-thinking that puts the users’ needs at the center of all development, strong privacy and security protections, and operational interoperability with other digital care systems. Looking forward, it will be essential to stay ahead of the changing needs of patients as technology evolves and to identify and mitigate challenges.