Making a trip to a doctor’s office can be a pain. Depending on where you live and where your doctor’s office is, it may be a long drive. Going to the office during the day could mean time taken off from work.
It’s important to communicate with your doctor, but doing so brings many inconveniences. If you’ve been struggling with maintaining effective communication with your doctor, you may wish there were more direct ways.
Fortunately for you, it turns out there are simpler ways of communicating with a doctor. The most direct way is through a healthcare portal.
Healthcare portals, or patient portals, are an online resource that enables you greater access to your healthcare provider.
Through such features as instant messaging your doctor to access lab results, healthcare portals offer many benefits. However, you may have some reservations about using digital means to communicate with your doctor.
If you have questions or concerns about the benefits of patient portals, then continue reading! We’ll break down the key benefits of these portals and why they are such helpful tools for both providers and patients.
1. Improved Doctor Patient Communication
The single greatest benefit to using patient portals is the direct connection between doctors and patients. Patient portals use instant messaging software that allows patients to message their doctor at any time of day.
Messaging doctors directly offers many advantages. First, it eliminates the possibility of miscommunication between a receptionist and a patient calling the office. Any questions or concerns a patient may have will go directly to their doctor.
Second, messaging doctors through portal messaging software can reduce the need to go to the doctor’s office in person. By messaging your doctor, you can consult with them without having to schedule an in-person appointment.
Such consultations are known as telemedicine. If you, for instance, wanted to change your prescription amount, you could consult with your doctor faster and more conveniently about the problem.
This benefits the doctor as well. Rather than having to slot appointment times for concerns or questions that are less complex or pressing, he can leave that slot open for patients in need of more thorough care.
2. Access to Medical Information
If you have to get tested at a doctor’s office, you don’t want to sit at home waiting on results. You want to know as soon as possible if you are healthy or not.
Sometimes you get tested as a formality, so you can be cleared to travel soon. Other times, you may be concerned about whether you have a serious medical condition.
Either way, having quick and convenient access to lab results is a tremendous advantage to you. As it turns out, healthcare portals offer that access.
Most patient portal software offers patients the ability to access their lab results whenever they please. Not only do they allow you access to lab results, but also your medical records.
If you have questions about those results or records, you remain free to message your doctor through the portal.
If you are a provider, this also saves you time. When you see several patients on any given day, keeping track of all their test results and calling them takes up a significant portion of your day.
Providing patients with access to their information can free you up as a provider to focus on other concerns.
3. Increased Office Efficiency
One of the foremost benefits of healthcare portals for providers is the increased workplace efficiency they allow. If patients are fully utilizing patient portals, your office can run more smoothly.
This can take several forms. There is less paperwork to fill out and fewer prescription refills to write. You can resolve questions about referrals to other experts online, freeing staff to focus on other duties.
Furthermore, portals allow patients to make appointments online, which means they don’t even have to call to set up appointments. The same holds for appointment reminders; the portal can send them to patients automatically.
With all of these tasks handled, doctors are better able to spend their time seeing patients. This is a net benefit for doctors and patients alike.
4. Patient Payment Made Easy
One function of healthcare portals that make a patient’s life easy is paying a bill online. By enabling this function, you as a patient can quickly and easily pay off your doctor’s bill and move on with your life.
As a healthcare provider, you must strive to make your patient’s experience as satisfactory as possible. Doing so is likely to ensure your patients stay with your practice.
As such, if your portal does not allow for patients to pay their bills, it’s in your best interests to fix that. One such way to do so is by using www.quickpayportal.com.
5. A Healthcare Portal Can Make Patients More Responsible
As a healthcare provider, this is your ultimate goal. You want your patients to take more responsibility for their health and lifestyles. A patient portal can be a wonderful first step in that journey.
By allowing your patients more access to their medical information, you’re giving them the chance to educate themselves. By giving them direct communication with you, you’re making it easy for them to come to you with their concerns.
As a patient, this is advantageous to you as well. Instead of dreading a physical, you can instead aim to improve your health. You will have greater access to resources by which to educate yourself on what your body needs.
Start Using Your Patient Portal
You’ve seen by now that there are many benefits to using a healthcare portal. However, the sad reality is that while roughly 90% of healthcare providers offer a portal, the vast majority of patients don’tuse them.
If you’re a patient looking to improve your relationship with your healthcare provider, take advantage of their resources! Start using their patient portal today!
