Don't Miss the Potential of Apps for Patient Engagement

Along with its rapid evolution, digital and mobile technology has reshaped industries around the world. However, the broader healthcare sector still has room to grow when it comes to the role patient apps and online portals can play in patient engagement.

While significant parts of the health industry have struggled with digital maturity, the immense potential of online patient portals and mobile apps has never been clearer. Especially now, their transformative effect on patient interaction means a higher number of patients receiving care and healthier communities overall. Fully adopting a mobile solution can go a long way in improving patient engagement.

Whether accessed through mobile apps or a traditional computer, patient portals empower patients to perform tasks previously only possible through phone calls or an actual office visit. Accessing their information, requesting medication refills, and booking appointments become quick and easy, removing hurdles between patients and care.

Patient Engagement Benefits Everyone

While introducing new technology to your practice is never without challenges, the benefits trump those obstacles.

A 2018 Patient Experience Journal study had nothing but positive things to say about patient portals. It found everything from improved patient engagement to direct psychological benefits. An improved sense of collaboration and increased trust towards care providers led to a better physician-patient relationship.

Beyond that, though, healthcare providers see direct benefits of their own. With the right patient app, you can experience:

• Reduced administrative work
• Better patient communication
• Streamlined registration and check-in process
• A more efficient clinical workflow

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread, the need for mobile and remotely accessible medical care has become even more profound.

The Time for Patient Portals and Apps is Today

If there’s anything that the COVID-19 outbreak has revealed, it’s the value of convenient care in a dynamic healthcare landscape. While the accelerated growth in demand for telemedicine indicates that the healthcare industry is actively adapting to the needs of the time, online portals and patient apps have an equally important hand in improving community health.

When the safest place to be is home, these tools can eliminate the need for patients to physically visit your medical office or take up staff time on the phone. With more free space in the clinic and staff members being able to devote their time to patients who need it most, your practice and community will be better off.

If your practice hasn’t introduced a mobile health solution yet, now would be the perfect time to maximize its true potential.