How can you provide better care for your patients? One important way to ensure that your patients are satisfied with their care and maintain some control over their information is to better explain your patient portal. How can you do that in a way that will allow them to understand the uses and work with it to manage their own care? Here are some thoughts that can help you.
Use the portal yourself.
Before you ever promote the portal to your patients, start out by creating your own account and checking out the process. This will give you an idea of how to navigate the website, what kind of information you can find, and what kind of information you need to provide. Then you can talk more about how it works for getting medical information, refilling prescriptions, or interacting with the medical staff for better care.
Promote it every time.
One of the biggest mistakes that facilities make is that they don’t promote the portal during visits. They may ask if someone wants to sign up, but that is the last time it is mentioned. Users may receive regular emails, but most people will ignore those. Instead, make sure you’re promoting it regularly while you’re speaking with the patient throughout their care process.
Describe the benefits.
You should make sure to focus on the ways that the patient portal can make their care more convenient. Talk about how wait times will be less than if they make a call or leave a message on the automated system. Tell them about the way they can access information at their fingertips.
Provide top online communications.
If you are responsible for interacting with your patients via the online portal, make sure you are the best ambassador for the service. Provide top quality communications, ensure that your respond promptly, and provide the information they need when they need it most.
Encourage older patients.
Another aspect to focus on is your older patient population. Older adults don’t often use online tools as a matter of regular habit. They require more reasons to log in and won’t use it if it isn’t intuitive or easy. Talk to them about it. You may even offer classes with your older patients to help them navigate the portal while they have someone there to help answer questions.
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