Patient Portals and Patient Engagement: What's the Connection?

Woman using a tablet

In behavioral health, patient engagement isn’t just a buzzword. It's a cornerstone of successful healthcare outcomes. As healthcare models shift to patient-centered care, the role of digital health tools like patient portals and patient engagement platforms becomes indispensable. These tools empower patients to take an active role in their health management, fostering better communication, informed decision-making, and ultimately, improved health outcomes.

Patient portals serve as digital gateways that provide diverse patient populations with convenient access to their health information, electronic medical records (EMRs), and electronic health records (EHRs). They may also provide means of secure communication with healthcare providers.

On the other hand, patient engagement platforms offer a more robust set of features, including telehealth services, personalized education resources, and proactive health monitoring. This comprehensive approach supports complex care management and enhances the overall patient experience.

This article explores the symbiotic relationship between patient portals and patient engagement platforms, delving into their distinct benefits, limitations, and how they contribute to fostering patient activation and empowerment in behavioral health settings. Discover how these digital tools can revolutionize patient care and support healthcare providers in delivering more personalized, effective, and patient-centric services.

The Power of Patient Engagement

Behavioral health patient engagement is essential for successful health outcomes. When patients are engaged, they are more compliant with treatment plans, attend regular checkups, and take ownership of their health. Additionally, patient engagement improves patient satisfaction, which can lead to higher retention rates for clinicians.

Here are the areas where patient engagement can have an effect.

Health Outcomes and Effectiveness

Engaging patients can improve the quality of care, treatment outcomes, and patient experience. Higher engagement levels are associated with improvements in anxiety and depression and overall mental and physical health.

Patient Compliance

Engaged patients may be more likely to stick to medication regimens and participate in preventative behaviors. Collaborative care that includes primary care physicians, specialists, and patients when choosing treatment options can maximize patient commitment and adherence. Key components for treatment adherence include motivation, cohesion, commitment, and empowerment.

Self-Efficacy

Patient self-efficacy is crucial for health services management and can improve quality of life. Supportive self-management in patients with chronic diseases is an important aspect of quality care, helping patients to feel confident and capable of managing their health conditions.

Impact on Healthcare Costs

Patient engagement may help reduce healthcare costs by ensuring that care is targeted to the specific needs of the patient. Increased productivity for healthcare teams, streamlined workflows, and effective alternatives to in-person care, like telehealth or remote patient monitoring, can potentially reduce healthcare costs by decreasing readmissions and emergency department utilization.

What Does Poor Patient Engagement Look Like?

Poor engagement can lead to suboptimal treatment, increased healthcare costs, and lower patient satisfaction. Therefore, identifying the signs of poor patient engagement in behavioral health is critical. Some of the most common red flags of poor engagement include:

Poor health literacy at baseline
A new pattern of missing appointments
Relapse or regression
Medication non-compliance
Reduced participation in groups or activities
Low patient satisfaction scores
Declining survey completion rates (PROMs, RAPID)
Slow follow-up

Types of Patient Portals and Patient Engagement Platforms

Patient portals and patient engagement: patient using her laptop for a video call

While both serve to engage patients and improve healthcare outcomes, patient portals and patient engagement platforms have distinct features, use cases, and limitations.

Standalone Patient Portals

Standalone patient portals usually allow patients to view a read-only copy of their medical records. However, features like scheduling appointments and messaging with providers may not be included. Because they are separate from the EHR, patient portals may not include prescription refill requests or access to lab results.

Legacy Patient Portals

Legacy systems may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks because the vendor no longer supports them and doesn't receive security patches. Legacy portals may affect usability when they become incompatible with newer systems or other software because they weren't designed to integrate. Legacy data may also be difficult to access or use because it's stored on outdated hardware or in unsupported software formats. This can lead to integration issues, data loss, or system failures.

EHR-Based Patient Portals

These patient portals are secure online health information technology interfaces that provide patients with 24/7 access to view their personal health record anywhere there is internet access. Typically linked to a healthcare provider's electronic health record system, patient portals offer a wealth of features designed to empower and streamline patient provider communication.

EHR-based patient portals are ideal for practices and healthcare systems that require an integrated system to manage patient records and facilitate communication between patients and providers. Some common features include:

Integration with EHR: Provides seamless portal access to a patient's comprehensive medical records, including visit summaries, test results, and treatment plans.
Basic patient interaction: Allows for scheduling appointments, requesting prescription refills, and secure messaging with healthcare providers.
Patient access to health information: Patients can view their health history, immunization records, and lab results, fostering transparency and informed decision-making.

Patient Engagement Platforms

A patient engagement platform goes beyond the basic functionalities of a patient portal to offer a more comprehensive approach to patient interaction and care. While both tools drive patient engagement, relying solely on a patient portal may not meet your patients' diverse and evolving needs.

A few of the most critical patient engagement platform benefits are:

Enhanced communication platform: Patient engagement platforms feature secure messaging, video consultations, and push notifications to ensure clients can reach out using the most comfortable method.
Personalization: Patient engagement platforms deliver tailored patient education, motivational messages, and resources based on individual patient needs and conditions.
Advanced monitoring and support: Beyond accessing health records, patient engagement platforms integrate telehealth, remote patient monitoring, and care coordination tools, enabling proactive management and support of chronic conditions.

A Comprehensive Patient Engagement Solution

Ultimately, patient portals should be part of a much broader patient engagement strategy. Authentic patient engagement requires a holistic approach that addresses the precise needs of each patient, including emotional support, motivation, education, and community connection.

This is where solutions like the CaredFor app come into play. They offer a more comprehensive and dynamic approach to patient engagement that complements and enhances the functionality of traditional patient portals.

The CaredFor app represents a new generation of patient engagement e-health tools designed to work in harmony with ContinuumCloud's EHR system and patient portal. By offering more comprehensive features, CaredFor addresses many of the limitations of traditional patient portals and patient engagement platforms. It also improves patient portal adoption and enrollment rates by providing additional tools to support ongoing engagement and improved outcomes.

The CaredFor app portal features include:

Personalized content: Unlike implementing a one-size-fits-all approach taken by many patient portals and patient engagement software, CaredFor delivers tailored content and interventions. These are based on each patient's unique needs, preferences, and treatment journey.
Community support: CaredFor facilitates peer-to-peer connections and moderated support groups, fostering a sense of community that can be crucial for patients in behavioral health.
Behavioral health tools: The app includes features specifically designed to support mental health and addiction recovery. These include mood tracking, coping skills exercises, and relapse prevention resources.
Motivation: CaredFor incorporates elements of gamification, such as contingency management, challenges, and milestone rewards. This feature encourages ongoing engagement and positive behavior change.
Family and caregiver involvement: The app provides tools to involve family members and caregivers in the patient's care journey, promoting a more holistic support system.
Proactive engagement: Unlike patient portals that rely on patients to initiate engagement, CaredFor uses push notifications and reminders. These personalized prompts encourage regular interaction and sustained engagement.

Opt for a Holistic Solution

Patient portals and patient engagement: patient holding a notebook and a pencil while on a video call

While use of patient portals may boost patient engagement, they should represent a piece of a much larger strategy. Meaningful patient engagement requires a more comprehensive approach that addresses the diverse needs of patients beyond simple information access and basic communication.

The CaredFor app works with our EHR-based patient portal to provide a more holistic behavioral health solution for patient engagement. By combining essential health information with personalized content, community support, and advanced engagement tools, healthcare providers can create a more effective and sustainable patient engagement strategy.

Are you ready to embrace a more holistic approach? Learn how ContinuumCloud's comprehensive EHR-based patient portal and patient engagement platform can help your behavioral health systems or healthcare organization engage. Connect with us today.