Key Elements of Top Mobile Patient Portal Apps

With the advent of online retail and e-banking, consumers have become accustomed to using their computers and phones to perform a wide range of tasks. This increase in mobile use provided two critical opportunities for healthcare: improve patient experience and stay engaged with them.

As a result, healthcare companies worked to build mobile-based applications to give patients access to their data, stay connected with their care team, and more efficiently manage administrative tasks, like bill payment and scheduling. These apps are available on multiple devices, including smartphones and tablets.

The popularity of patient portals is rising. Nearly 40 percent accessed a patient portal at least once in 2020 — a 13 percentage point increase from 2014, according to the most recent federal data available.

Further, the data shows nearly four in 10 users accessed their portal through a smartphone health app in 2020.

Here are some of the most common features of mobile patient portal apps:

Medical and vaccination record

A vital element of any patient portal app is that it stores medical information for patients to access. These include medical histories and care plans.

This helps provide patients with a comprehensive view of their specific health conditions. For example, through a patient portal app, a patient could view various types of data associated with one condition, including visit summaries, test results, and outcome goals.

Not only that, but patient portal apps track medications and allergies, enabling users to review and update those as needed. This helps providers stay on top of already-in-use medications and potential allergy issues to ensure appropriate medication management.  

"The common question providers ask is, 'What medications are you on?'" said Bill Hanson, MD, chief information officer and vice president at Penn Medicine, in an interview with PatientEngagementHIT last year. "A patient would pull an index card out of their wallet, much creased, the ink smeared, and they've written down in their scratchy handwriting what they think they're taking, or some approximation of that.”

Some apps like Epic's MyChart can connect patient accounts from participating organizations, enabling users to see all their health records in one place.

Further, these apps can act as virtual vaccine records, which have become increasingly crucial as COVID-19 vaccination has become central to life amid the pandemic. Many apps allow users to upload their vaccination status if they received the shot outside their facility.   

Engaging with the care team

One of the most commonly used features of patient portal apps is messaging the care team. About six in 10 patient portal users exchanged secure messages with their provider in 2020, representing a 10 percentage point increase from 2017, federal data shows.

Patients can use the messaging feature to ask their caregivers general or visit-specific questions about their health and request referrals and new prescriptions.

But this messaging feature is not just for medical advice; it can also be used to settle questions related to billing and payment.

This ability to ask clinics payment questions directly is essential as Americans often can't decode the medical bills that arrive at their home.

Scheduling appointments

Another commonly used feature of patient portal apps is online scheduling. Patients can book, cancel, and reschedule their appointments through these apps.

This capability does not only extend to in-person visits. With the meteoric rise in telehealth use, many patient portal apps allow patients to request a virtual visit directly and even attend the visit through the app.

Virtual care is not limited to a video visit or phone call. Most apps allow patients to use asynchronous telehealth services, sharing photos and symptom descriptions for providers to review and follow up on later.

Additionally, some providers, especially those part of the Open Notes initiative, will also share clinic notes with the patient via their portals. But there are pros and cons to sharing these notes, ranging from reducing medical errors to increasing the likelihood of inaccurate documentation.  

Bill payment

Many patient portal apps now include digital bill payment capabilities, boosting convenience for patients.

For example, MEDITECH's Patient and Consumer Health Portal allows patients and family members to see details for both current and past accounts. It displays each account's date of service, total balance, and out-of-pocket cost for the patient. Patients can make payments using a credit card or bank account.

By including this feature, providers can ease the billing and collections process, which patients often rank among their top grouses with the healthcare industry. In a recent study, a vast majority (93 percent) of healthcare consumers the billing experience could dissuade them from returning to a provider.

Pre-visit tasks

Another way patient portal apps can improve patient experience is by enabling patients to complete pre-visit assessments before they arrive at the doctor's office, thereby cutting down the amount of time patients must spend in the clinic.

Today, most apps in the market enable users to pay copays, respond to questionnaires, and electronically sign documents. Patients can also use these apps to verify insurance information and upload new health plans when needed.

This feature became essential in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when the focus on limiting exposure to the deadly coronavirus was at an all-time high.

Sharing data

As the healthcare industry moves toward higher levels of interoperability, patient portal apps are playing an increasingly important role in allowing patients to control who sees their data.

Patient portal apps typically allow patients to share their health records with providers, enabling them to gain a longitudinal view of their patient's health history. Like Epic's MyChart, some apps even allow patients to provide temporary access to their medical records via a code.

Others, like MEDITECH's portal app, enable patients to authorize individuals, such as family members, to interact with their portals via a proxy user setup and a shared access feature. Patients manage the information that can be shared, and they can revoke the authorization at any time.

But there is still work to be done in this arena. A study published in 2020 shows that among 69 hospitals that provided proxy accounts, only 13 offered controls that enabled patients to restrict the types of information their proxies could see.

By and large, US adults support increased access to health information for patients and providers, according to a survey conducted in 2020 by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

But they want to ensure their data is protected. The Pew data shows that among respondents who wish to use apps on smartphones, tablets, and computers to access their health information, those who expressed serious privacy concerns jumped from 35 percent to 62 percent when they were told that federal privacy protections do not cover data stored on apps.  

Patient education and reminders

Patient portal apps can help ensure patients remain engaged in their care and get all the information they need to improve their health.

For example, Cerner's HealtheLife app enables users to take a personal health assessment and receive a score to help them understand the health risks inherent in their lifestyle. Further, patients can participate in a recommended health action plan, including multimedia-based education and targeted solutions for critical behaviors.

Not only that but patient portal apps can be used to remind patients about scheduling follow-up appointments or getting necessary tests and immunizations.

Patient-generated data tracking

With a steep rise in the use of wearables, the trove of patient-generated health data is growing. As a result, most patient portal apps enable users to import data from their third-party wearable devices so that providers can keep track of changes in their health metrics.

Through this capability, providers can track patients' weight, blood pressure, and number of daily steps and intervene to prevent potentially dangerous lifestyle trends.

Though patient portals will undoubtedly continue to evolve to include new capabilities, the above have become non-negotiable features in today's apps.