Home Forums Discussions General Discussion Patient Portal

SO i have not started using the patient portal feature in AC.

How many of you are using it?

Do patients like it/use it?

I know it is something I "have to do" and will.....Are there any tutorials for setting this up, any hints or suggestions you can share with set up? I would like to get it online before the end of the year.

No one????

Hi Chris,

Sorry, not using it so I cannot comment.

Gene

You know me. Mr. opinionated. I hate patient portals. I know the ones on the hospital allow patients to get their own labs, which I find ridiculous. I refuse to answer any question about a lab without an appointment to go over all the normal two-year-old's "creatinine" and I tell them I will be happy to write a letter of reference to medical school.

I can't let people schedule. That would be a disaster. Anyway there are some good things. Maybe the government will make me go kicking and screaming into it, but then it will be very minimal.

Hi Chris, do you mean Updox? That's what we've been using. I like Updox for faxes and putting scans into Imported Items. The portal side of it is ok. What specific questions do you have about it?

Patients use it when they need some document from us. So they would always call first to request something, we send to the portal and then they access it. They don't really use the portal to initiate any requests to us. They like it but they would prefer to just get the documents emailed directly to them.

Thanks DOC and Bert, glad I'm not the only one using the portal.

Serene, I am talking about the patient portal built into AC. In the demographics you can create a patient portal where the pt has access to labs and studies, I am not sure what else they can access. It is a Medicare mandate that I know we will all have to do or face the fines from the government but just not sure how/when I am going to give in and set it up. Thanks for the input, I bet you're not having to set it up because of the office being pediatrics.

Chris, I think the AC patient portal is the interface with Updox. I believe AC doesn't have its own portal. Maybe Mark@AC can clarify?

We use the patient portal that syncs with Updox. We have the patients do all their new patient forms in it. That's really the majority of what we use it for. But if a patient wants me to email them records or billing information, I will upload it to their portal and they can print it from there. They can send me stuff, too. Some patients will load their medication list or records to it. It's pretty handy. I get a Read receipt if they open a document or message that I've sent them. Hope this answers your question.

The built in portal is powered by Updox, AC does not have its own portal at this time.

As far as setting the portal up, I can help you with that if you like. Just shoot me an email at mdabeck@harriscomputer.com and we can set up a time to walk through it.

The built in portal is extremely basic. There really is not a lot of functionality to it. You can send the patient a message, they can send you one, you can upload lab results (optional), and you can upload a clinical summary to in. If you have the expanded version from updox, there is more functionality like scheduling and forms.

Thanks, serene, tcosta and Mark@AC. I did not realize I had to have Updox for this feature.

Isn't having a portal a mandate with EHRs for Medicare?

I have never needed Updox and back when I contacted them to inquire about using their services for faxes it was too expensive for us. I know a lot of folks on here use Updox but I could not justify the price for basically just a fax service. I set up a Brother MFC machine years ago that has the ability to import faxes into AC for us. Many years ago Leslie posted how to do this and it has worked for us for probably 6 years or more!

You actually don't need Updox to use the portal, its just that our portal is powered by Updox. If you do not have Updox, you can still use the patient portal, just with some limited functionality.

We had the basic Updox for years. The price has changed several times, but recently it was $69/month for unlimited (unsecure) SMS, faxes, forms, patient portal and unlimited # of practice users. The part we can't live without is putting the documents into imported items - much faster than adding a document in the II tab. I recently added a broadcast function to send mass email/phone calls/SMS and now it's $84/month.

We use it (Updox) alot, especially during the pandemic. Patients message us through it, and we send patients copies of their medical records, immunizations etc, if they request it. Specifically during the pandemic it is the main way we get patients their covid test results as we do all testing outside of the office. Its faily simple to manage on our part as we also use Updox for our fax system.

From the patients side, it is very bare. The UI could be more intuitive but it is very simple so its not too hard to figure out. In general the response I have received is that the patients enjoy it.

Thanks CY

I use the Updox portal to send patients lab orders that they can print when needed, usually the week before their appointment. Eliminates the :"lost lab order" phone calls. Also post lab results and other reports if the patient requests them, usually after we have discussed them in the office.
I have a patient coming into the office tomorrow who had his lab done. Sent him a message today along with the labs that we will be discussing his increased A1c, his increased creatinine and his decreased eGFR. That helps to take away the "surprise" factor so we can address what needs to be addressed. Have already received a "Message read" report. I save all of these "Message read" reports to the chart for documentation purposes also, in case a patient conveniently says he did not know about that result. Of course anything urgent or a message not read in an appropriate time frame (this can be picked at the time of sending the message) necessitates a phone call.
Liked the desktop version better than the online version but have gotten used to it now. Patients also use it to send vaccine reports and other documents that they want us to have. One of the main complaints is that in the desktop version when you sent a document it was automatically attached. In the online version when you send a document that you have already attached to the message you have to click another box that says "attachments". I believe someone here references "Needless clicks". Sometime the patient will reply that the document was not attached.
Definitely do not want patients scheduling themselves. What a disaster.