Patient Web Portals enhance and speed up doctor and patient communications. A Patient Information Portal allows doctors and patients to interact electronically in a secure environment. This can save doctors, their administrative staffs, and patients, hours in returned phone calls and playing telephone tag for communicating simple things to patients. It also allows patients access to their own health records.

The idea is that the patient --as well as the doctor and insurance companies -- must have access to his or her own medical information, hence the term Electronic Health Record, which is meant to shift ownership of the data to the patient as well as the doctor. The Patient Information Portal allows the patient this access as well as access to Lab reports, test results, and so on. A Patient Portal also allows the patient to view their insurance and billing information in a secure environment, and to pay their bills securely on-line.

Of course, medical billing, patient history, and prescription history are all vital to the completeness of an electronic medical records software (EMR) or an Electronic Health Record. The EHR is meant to encompass the big picture, and different individuals, -- be they surgeons, billing specialists, and, perhaps, most importantly, patients themselves -- are all vitally concerned with different portions of the EHR.
Some of the features to look for in a Patient Portal are access / update ability to:

• Allergy lists
• Immunization lists
• Lab results
• Discharge Instructions
• List of Medical Problems / Conditions
• Medication Lists
• Requests for change of Address
• Request for Appointments
• Bill Payment
  
• Appointment Scheduling
• E-questions for doctors and nurses
• Managing family presence in a practice
• Transferring medical records
• Proving and verifying identity when making requests and updates
• Filling our forms in advance of visits
• Pre-registration for appointments and procedures
• Secure messaging
• Virtual visits

There are benefits to tighter and looser integration of practice management and electronic medical / health record functions, and often there is no better or worse model : sometimes it all depends on the nature of the practice or healthcare organization in need – or in the preferences of the people managing the practice. How to get guidance on the comparative functions of the many excellent patient accounting information and medical practice management packages available?

For comparisons of different medical patient account information modules within different medical software products, download the free Medical Software Selection Kit.

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