Nearly all physician group practices these days have a digital portal. But such portals are extremely under used by both doctors and consumers mainly because they don’t offer much value.

Those are the conclusions of a new survey of 1,756 group practices from the Medical Group Management Association. Today, 90% of physician offices have a patient portal that patients can use to exchange notes with doctors, book appointments and related transactions.

The remaining 10% of physician group practices that don’t have a portal say they are working to implement one soon or have the software as part of their electronic health records systems, but it has not yet been implemented, says the MGMA survey.

The survey also finds that of the 90% of physician offices that offer a patient portal, only 43% “accept patient-generated health data for clinician review and additionally 37% reported their patient portal does not accept PGHD for review.”

In plain speak, that means that less than 50% of doctors’ office with a patient portal can’t (or won’t) let patients update the medical records with personalized health information such as weight or blood pressure.

In a commentary attached to the survey findings, one consultant noted that patient portals are ineffective because they are hard to use.

“When I moved to Colorado and was looking for a new doctor, I wanted to know the type of EHR the practice used and the way they used their patient portal,” says MGMA consulting principal Pamela Ballou-Nelson. “Once you have used a robust patient portal, you won’t settle for less, however, many patient portals I have observed are clunky and offer nothing more than secure message exchanges.”

An effective digital portal should enable patients to:

• To view their health data such as immunizations, lab work and imaging results. “Links that provide information on labs and other biometrics are of tremendous value for patients and families,” says Ballou-Nelson.
• Online appointment scheduling, which allows patients and families to schedule appointments when convenient.
• Online billing, which allows patients and families to add credit card information.
• Prescription refill requests, which can eliminate the need to make a phone call.
• Data update capabilities, which can help patients develop self-management skills, as they upload blood pressure readings and/or other patient generated health data (PGHD). “This also makes it possible for patients to receive timely feedback,” she says.

Doctors and their administrative staff aren’t using portals or making such digital tools because of a perception that cause extra work, says Ballou-Nelson. “Many practices still believe their portal will create more work and some tell me their patients don’t want to use it,” she says. “I interpret this as them not being in favor of it, which means they aren’t encouraging its use.”

Better training and better marketing and communications on how to use digital portals can increase administrative efficiency, she says. “In a recent practice assessment, I counted 10 calls and three walk-ins in a four-hour segment, requesting immunization records and/or most recent physical exam for school or camp,” says Ballou-Nelson. “I pointed out that by using a patient portal the practice could reduce the amount of time patients and front desk staff had to spend on the phone or talking at the front desk.”

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