Patient Portal | Patients & Visitors (2024)

FAQs

What information can be accessed through a patient portal? ›

Patient portals can help you access medical records, set up appointments, communicate with your health care professional, and pay medical bills.

A HIPAA-compliant patient portal is a secure online platform that allows healthcare organizations to exchange confidential lab results and other detailed reports with their clients. The portal meets the standards of the HIPAA, which regulates the use and disclosure of protected health information (PHI).

With a patient portal, your healthcare provider owns the information and they maintain it. They make the necessary updates based on your visits, results, and queries. In contrast, with a PHR, you are the owner. As we've said, this gives you greater control over your health information.

Patient portals can inadvertently contribute to alienation between patients and healthcare providers, particularly among populations with limited access to these online tools. Individuals with lower health literacy may be resistant to using patient portals due to the potential for confusion and misunderstanding.

While the most common method of accessing a patient portal was by computer (78 percent), nearly 4 in 10 patient portal users accessed their portal using a smartphone health app in 2020.

With limited exceptions, the HIPAA Privacy Rule (the Privacy Rule) provides individuals with a legal, enforceable right to see and receive copies upon request of the information in their medical and other health records maintained by their health care providers and health plans.

Lack of online medical records - Roughly 32% of patients reported not having an online medical record, which is a prerequisite for utilizing a patient portal. Limited internet access - Approximately 25% of patients cited a lack of internet access as a barrier to using patient portals.

HIPAA permits health care providers to disclose to other health providers any protected health information (PHI) contained in the medical record about an individual for treatment, case management, and coordination of care and, with few exceptions, treats mental health information the same as other health information.

We examined patients' use of eight common portal features: messaging, medical advice message, lab tests/results, medication list, problem list, allergies, immunizations, and appointment details.

What safeguards must be in place for patients to access their patient portal? ›

Patients can use the portal to view their medical records, test results, immunization records, and medications.

Patient portals enable patients to communicate securely and conveniently with their providers. These systems give patients the power to view doctor visits, obtain test results, request medication refills or discuss any medical-related matters.

Patient portals and personal health records (PHRs) are two primary patient engagement technologies enabling patient data access. Still, it can be hard to distinguish between the two. These tools have a lot of overlapping features, leading some healthcare professionals to use the terms interchangeably.

Hospital or doctor records: You may have been tested for your blood type before — or it could have been listed in your medical record if you've had surgery. (You can also ask your doctor for a blood type screening).

A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries.

A member of the care team will “look at the chart and if they can figure it out, then they'll just respond. It is “a relatively small percentage of messages that actually find their way to the doctor,” Dr. Hopkins added. “This is something to be used for communication with their care team, not just the physician.”

Final answer:

A patient portal allows access to test results, insurance bills, and cost comparisons, as well as provides support groups for patients.