For me, working in the healthcare IT industry can be a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I get to see firsthand the exciting technology that is the future of healthcare and the amazing advances that are being made for both the patient and physician experience. But on the other hand, I’m a patient struggling to work within the confines of the limited technology options that are currently available in my area. It’s like going to a bakery and seeing a delicious cake and then being handed a plate with crumbs.
Consumers these days are used to websites doing so much for them - from planning trips, to setting up automatic bill pay and to communication with an entire network of users. The patient portal available to me seems to have the right ideas, but upon closer inspection the functionality and workflow are not up to par. I should also point out that, while I do live in a larger metropolitan area, this is the only portal option, so switching – which I would if there was anything better available – is impossible.
My initial intent was to provide a laundry list of gripes I have about what the portal doesn’t do. While this would be an informative, albeit dry, exercise, the more I thought about it, the real message I wanted to get across was - if you are going to do something, do it right, even if it offers less than you want or hope to provide.
- Yes, I want to do all the cool things in a patient portal – direct schedule an appointment and get wayfinding information immediately with special instructions on what I need to do to prepare for my appointment.
- Yes, I want to be able to get reminders for preventive care when I reach an age milestone and be provided the explanation as to why.
- Yes, I want to be able to manage my bills and make payments, and ask questions, and get information all online whenever I want.
- Yes, I want all of these things, and I want them yesterday!
But I know that is not realistic. And, I expect more than the average patient since I am in the eHealth world, so I will cut providers some slack.
What I really want is for the functionality that is available to me now to work easily and as advertised. To ignore basic usability (dead end links, forcing me to use the phone during the process, not allowing me to manage or delete obsolete listings in MY address book) and not having your own workflows in place (giving me the option for communication method and then ignoring it), not being able to share my basic information between PCP and specialist in the same group (I could go on) does not instill me with the warm fuzzies (read: confidence) that you actually know what you are doing.
Remember what I said about switching earlier? Do you really want to lose me, a relatively healthy, well-insured, long term patient to a competitor because your patient portal implementation was bad? Trust me, when something better comes along (and it will – in the brave new world of risk sharing and bundled payments, patient portals are necessary), I will switch. And you will probably not get me back.
A complete enterprise solution that works with the physician and the patient to create a user-friendly ehealth world isn’t the future. It is here now. It works and is a huge patient satisfier. Organizations have to start somewhere. And they have to get the basics right. This means under promise and over deliver. Provide key things that people want and need and make it work right the first time. If people get a benefit they will stick around to see what will happen next. If they don’t, you have lost their attention and at best their experience will be status quo, manual processes and not benefits in time or money savings for anyone. At worst you will lose patients to someone else doing it better, and the time and money required to (hopefully) bring them back one day will far outstrip the investment that could have been made up front to get it right.
It’s time for healthcare systems to understand that they have a limited amount of time, and chances, to get this right.
Jim McGregor, Sr. eHealth Strategist
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