According to Dr.Josh Umbehr, “A good scalpel makes a better surgeon. Good communication makes a better doctor.”

We are seeing the emergence of the greatest customer movement in history. The need for better customer communication and satisfaction will continue to evolve dramatically. Communication is the key element to a successful relationship and any imbalance can lead to its failure, right? This is applicable to healthcare sector as well.  Patients are looking for innovative ways to access their health information and care providers. Research indicates that growing number of patients prefer to remain connected with their physician. How will they react if they constantly hear a voicemail? – They apparently take a toll on the relationship with their physician. So how the hospitals can be successful in managing their patient-physician relationship?

The healthcare IT answers our question with the solution – patient portal. Portals allow patients and their physicians to communicate with each other regularly – anywhere and anytime in a user friendly manner and also offer wide range of benefits. Let us look how this technological solution adds value in maintaining an effective relationship between patients and physicians.

Patients can access (with a secure username and password) to information through a web connection. Patients can log in to the system to:

  • Communicate via email anytime from anywhere
  • Check appointment schedules
  • Check lab results
  • Examine statements
  • Request a prescription refill
  • Complete new patient intake forms

By having a medium to ask questions to their providers, with ease and comfort, patients are more empowered to collaborate on treatment options and take ownership and advocate for their health etc. Also access to a collection of resources would provide trustworthy and up-to-date content and handouts that enhance the patient’s ability to better understand medical information on various healthcare topics, specific disease states and preventative guidelines.  This helps in educating and creating awareness among patients.

Well, how about physicians then? It is not only for emergencies that physicians required to remain with their patients. It is often the non-urgent administrative issues that require time and patience to resolve. Of course, a portal ensures that patients are informed of all administrative and clinical alerts with reduced chances of human error. Not only this, physicians (and hospitals) can also achieve the following.

  • Automated alerts, reminders and messages help them manage their time well and also track critical activities
  • Streamlined workflows and communication helps to achieve systematic and organized way of administration
  • Reduced costs which results positive impact on revenue
  • Simplified appointment and medication refilling requests creates a very user-friendly atmosphere
  • Better resource utilization increases overall productivity
  • Better customer service ultimately increases patient satisfaction and engagement
  • HIPPA complaint security can be met

For the successful patient-physician relationship the utilization of patient portal, has immense potential to help assist the foundational component of the relationship. Patient portals not only increase the crucial communication, they also provide superiority healthcare through enhanced access to care and collaboration, deliver effective and efficient care and decrease costs. Thus adopting an appropriate patient portal definitely helps in maintaining a successful relationship between patient and physician and there by resulting in better cure.

For any questions, please free to contact: [email protected]