Some behavioral health practices have begun improving their patient portals and mobile apps.
Native telehealth integration was a rarity in patient portals not long ago. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more common – and this trend is likely to continue.
Following telehealth appointments, patient portals can provide access to information about self-care and healthy habits between appointments, and can also be a means of reporting patient health indicators over time. Patients who have access to these materials are more likely to be fully committed to their treatment plans.
We spoke with Ram Krishnan, CEO of Valant, a provider of electronic medical record systems for mental health practices, to discuss why he believes it is important for behavioral health practices to embrace patient portals, what practices need to know before implementing a patient portal, why Telehealth integration is so important for portals and apps in behavioral health practices, and which portals and apps should be in place between appointments.
Q. Why is it important for behavioral health practices to embrace patient portals?
A. Primary care and other healthcare specialties often have episodic encounters with patients. We see our primary care providers once a year for a check-up and maybe again because we are sick. This tends to make the relationship transactional.
Patient portals are built around that transactional character. They are more about appointments and payment management than anything else.
Behavioral health – which requires frequent, ongoing care and is much more relationship-driven – is poorly served by the transactional nature of generic EHR software design. Practices need technology that understands this requirement and is purpose-built for the more frequent and relationship-driven nature of behavioral health care.
However, this does present an opportunity, as time has created both new service models and a deeper understanding of the needs of behavioral health. We know that practices are constantly looking for ways to improve the patient experience, improve the well-being of their patients and ensure adherence to treatment plans or medications.
Patient portals should be more than a place to pay, but should act as a digital extension of the care itself. Portals should serve as a connection between practice and healthcare provider while keeping patients involved in their treatment plans.
They can be a place where patients can contact their healthcare providers through secure messaging, especially for medication management. Portals can be where they complete periodic mental health assessments and monitor their progress. When purpose-built, portals can help practices build long-lasting relationships with their patients, providing an additional and necessary touchpoint for care.
Even better is that while the connection to care improves, operational improvements can also be felt in parallel. Implementing an easy-to-use, secure, and purpose-built patient portal can make it easy for patients to handle paperwork and bills and participate in telehealth sessions.
Portals can also reduce administrative errors and no-show appointments and minimize the need for manual paperwork and phone calls.
Q. What should behavioral health practices know before implementing a patient portal?
A. Research shows that patients want easy-to-use, personalized patient portals with easy-to-use communication features, which benefit both patients and physicians. So while there is a short learning curve in introducing patients to a new portal, ultimately it will provide an invaluable tool while reducing a lot of administrative work.
Patients and staff may need help in the early days after launching a portal, but practices will find that, compared to the manual method of collecting payments, assessments and other documents, this due diligence will be worth it in the end.
In addition to the many ways doctors can communicate with their patients through the portal, patients can also complete tasks that once required staff assistance, such as appointment requests, payments and paperwork. All of this can be completed through their portal account.
Behavioral health practices must consider their goals, but also the goals they set for their patients, and even the types of patients they serve. They need to stay clear about why they are adopting the portal and monitor those results. By prioritizing a primary goal, practices and their customer base can absorb and sustain one change at a time.
Practices can also take things one step at a time and take the time to understand their different workflows. This may include new prospects the practice is evaluating, the intake process, ongoing patient interactions, and future potential needs such as telehealth, secure chat, and content.
Q. Why is telehealth integration important for behavioral health practice portals or apps? And how are practices dealing with including telehealth?
A. Telehealth has emerged as an essential modality of care in behavioral healthcare. Some behavioral health practices have transitioned 100% to telehealth, while others offer a mix of both telehealth and in-person patients.
From a technology perspective, as telehealth gained momentum during the pandemic, we were tasked with utilizing the tools available. But as time went on, we realized the importance of making telehealth a more integrated part of the workflow – and many different features and capabilities needed to be considered.
Telehealth appointments in a calendar now require the telehealth link to be embedded. Appointment reminders must enable a link for the client to join the session. Assessments and forms should be easily pre-filled from any device. Payment must be made before the start of the session. Group sessions need their own management.
Now a patient portal can become the digital extension of the practice and facilitate the management of all these services, from a payment portal to a healthcare portal.
Q. What about appointments, virtual or in-person? What should practice portals or apps in behavioral health be?
A. Between appointments, patients can access their personal health information, securely message staff, complete their assessments and manage their appointments. Recent research has looked at the patient portal to be “a compassion-oriented technology because it can positively impact safety, disease management and patient engagement.” The patient portal is therefore an important instrument for effective patient care.
When we go through a typical therapy process, which involves making a diagnosis, developing a treatment plan, and setting up interventions with activities to support these, there is a clear opportunity to digitalize this process. Behavioral health practices are still providing PDFs or printouts. Care can and must be continuous and top of mind. That PDF won’t help if it never gets printed.
When the time arises that something needs to be documented, the patient portal, especially if it is app-based, can serve as a digital aid, alerting when an assignment is due, a check-in is needed, or perhaps just to make an appointment. urge to document. or feeling that can then be addressed.
Patient portals can centralize patient care and act as a hub for staff, practitioners and patients. For some practices, the right patient portal can be transformative toward offering “compassionate” care. At the very least, the portal is a valuable tool for running an efficient practice and providing an optimal patient experience.
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