New data suggests the future may be patient portals
Sara Heath wrote a very informative article based on new data from PLOS One. This data suggests that patient portal access may be the key to efficiently utilizing healthcare.
Patient portals permit patients to have access to their medical data, communicate securely with their healthcare professionals and request prescription refills digitally.
“Patient portal tools that improve patient access to their health information, support self-management, and help patients communicate asynchronously with providers offer an additional mechanism for delivering high-quality guideline-recommended care that can improve patient health,” stated the researchers that retrieved this data.
This data specifically targeted patient portals that helped patients with chronic conditions. Through the use of patient portals, these patients were able to improve managing their health and connect with their healthcare team in a less costly way through an outpatient setting. Patient portal access lowered the number of times these patients visited emergency departments or were hospitalized for preventable reasons. These hospitalizations would usually be costly, saving patients money.
Patients with chronic conditions especially benefit from patient portals because they often fall short of receiving quality healthcare. This is because they visit many primary care and specialty care professionals. The multitude of providers results in healthcare that is disintegrated and repetitive.