Refining patient relationships takes a lot of work. The range of information patients bring to the clinic table is expansive, with some relying on questionable websites while others consume verifiable sources only.
Inevitably, your clinicians may face more resistance when prescribing a medication or procedure. This lack of trust drives some healthcare providers to double on patient education.
Somehow, these medical professionals manage to miraculously tackle misinformation on top of a mounting workload or packed schedule. Their secret? These clinicians employ electronic medical records (EMRs) built to execute patient engagement tools.
Let’s examine how fellow providers, administrators, and health IT professionals can close the deep trust gap through engagement-driven solutions.
Good Care Starts with Good Tech
The Link Between EMRs and Patient Trust
Clinics that don’t utilize standard security measures can create a sense of unease and hesitation, and understandably so. Data breaches fuel people’s anxiety: “Physicians can protect them from illnesses, not cyber attacks.”
Discussing security protocols and highlighting certifications to patients and their caregivers can provide relief. When patients know their data is protected, they can use a HIPAA-compliant portal (integrated with a certified EHR)—to update their information, check their lab work, and download their treatment plan without worries.
Another critical point of poor patient experience is patient-friendly communication. From the patient’s perspective, an obstetrician or perinatologist telling her about “potential fetal demise” might not be as impactful because the patient is unsure about what it means.
The phrase “the baby might not survive” can better communicate the risks. Plus, specialists can support these discussions with patient education materials (accessible via patient portals).
| Using patient portal software to give your staff a break. Patient engagement tools aren’t just for patients; they benefit your team, too. Features that allow patients to update their records and appointments reduce phone calls and data entry tasks. Now, they have more time to focus on improving patient experience! |
Enhancing Patient Engagement with EMRs
Part of creating a connected care journey is encouraging patients to use the same digital health records clinics use. It offers another communication channel so patients and caregivers can engage offline, like joining remote monitoring programs for chronic care.
Easy Access to Medical Records
Patient portals support individuals in managing their health and receiving follow-up care. Physicians must leverage digital templates to collect critical details during patient interactions and share them via the best patient portal system.
Additionally, most patients tend to be more receptive to materials curated in such formats:
- Interactive tools
- How-to videos
- Pamphlets
- Visual aids
- Printouts from portals
Appointment Scheduling & Reminders
One of the best ways to drive patients away is not seeing them on their confirmed appointment. Such neglect can make them feel like they’ve been overlooked and trigger no-shows.
Today’s portals have online appointment scheduling features that do a good job of addressing this problem. Practices can:
- Review the number of appointments to determine if walk-in slots are still available.
- See patients who have not filled out forms or whose records are incomplete.
- Verify which patients need to bring their lab results to their visit.
- Use the portal to send patients reminders about completing forms, updating records, and bringing lab work.
On the patients’ side, they can enable alert features that allow the clinic’s software to automatically send text, email, or in-app messages when a doctor has to make last-minute scheduling adjustments. It also allows patients to quickly reschedule or send a reply explaining why rebooking may not be possible.
Telehealth Integration
Complex medications or care routines are too complex for patients to follow diligently. They might find it discouraging as they might think they were prescribed a regimen that doesn’t fit their lifestyles.
Online healthcare management that features virtual visits can resolve this hurdle. Through remote visits, specialists can apply engagement methods that promote clarity, including teach-back (encourages patients to re-tell the clinician’s explanations in their own words).
By harnessing the advantages of telehealth integration, patients can make the most out of guided care.
How EMRs Improve Care Quality and Transparency
Care data that’s accessible, accurate, and organized helps raise the quality of care outcomes. Below are common case scenarios that showcase this standard:
Streamlined Communication
Secure messaging and updates can help reduce a person’s anxiety about a new procedure or medication. For instance, a surgery patient goes home with instructions to check signs of infection.
Using the patient engagement platform, your clinician can send reminders and receive updates when the patient uploads photos of the surgical site. Your clinician can review the pictures and reassure the patient about his healing progress.
Shared Decision-Making
Parents need access to their child’s asthma treatment plans to make informed choices. Your specialist uploads the young patient’s lung function test results and care plan into the portal. This practice helps parents see their child’s treatment progress besides learning to adjust inhaler use.
Personalized Treatment Plans
Personalized patient care with an EMR is expanding, with current systems enabling clinicians to generate data-driven insights for more effective care.
Consider an internal medicine physician who uses data analytics to pinpoint patients who miss their medication frequently. This approach allows her to place these patients in a special group and enable portal features so they receive automated reminders and get a follow-up call from the care team when they have to take their prescriptions.
Security and Compliance: Keeping Patient Data Safe
Addressing patient concerns about data privacy requires some heavy lifting. Your clinic must contend against perceptions born from high-profile cases of clinicians making medical errors or miscommunications.
It also bolstered the demand for transparency in how clinics collect and handle patient information. Health information experts urge clinics to:
- Start using EMRs that employ advanced encryption for server-based or transmitted data.
- Leverage multi-factor authentication for EMR users to restrict viewing or changing sensitive data to fewer team members.
- Test backup systems so your clinic can still recover patient data in the event of data loss or cyberattacks.
| Tech Points to Ponder: Boosting patients’ confidence in your practice’s data security feels more natural when clinicians trust their own patient engagement tools and the vendors they rely on. To motivate your care team to reinforce data security measures, consider running quarterly or annual cybersecurity sessions with your trusted EMR partner. These events set the stage for clinicians and staff to ask tech partners about their efforts to ensure strong protection against breaches and other security threats. |
Tap Into Our Expertise: Making Patient Engagement a Priority
Prioritizing patient engagement starts with easy-to-use patient portals and accessible electronic medical records. Beyond adding solutions to your trust kit, they offer patients a secure communication channel and allow your team to implement top-tier patient engagement strategies.
When patients are empowered, trust follows. Our experts are here to help you create stronger patient connections with the right EMR system and transparent data practice. Connect with our team to get started!
