Improving patient engagement through patient portals

AdvantageCare Physicians (ACP), a multispecialty practice providing specialty and primary care in New York City and Long Island, wanted to improve sign-up rates and patient engagement in the practice’s patient portal. 

In December 2014, the ACP office in Valley Stream/Hempstead led a pilot project that increased patients’ exposure to the portal, MyACP. The goal was to investigate how to reduce the conventional sign-up process conducted by front-office staff at patient discharge and increase patient sign-up through the portal. 

MyACP sign-ups and data collection efforts were led by the cardiology department, and interactions between the team and patients were monitored on MyACP. The information released to the patient, as well as interaction through portal messaging, was monitored as a fraction of the total number of patients encountered to produce the engagement rate.

Training protocol

Before launching the pilot, a physician, medical assistant and front-office staff member learned how to use MyACP for patient registration, encourage patient registration and incorporate MyACP sign-ups into their regular interactions with patients. During patient intake, the front-office staff would provide patients with educational material about MyACP and its benefits. Then the medical assistant would determine whether patients were registered and would complete the process if time permitted. Finally, the physician would encourage MyACP sign-up; discharge instructions included a yes/no check box indicating a patient’s willingness to register. A “yes” would prompt the front office to create an account for the patient during the discharge process.

In addition to this training, the physician learned how to release records and communicate with the patient via the portal.

Protocol implemented

Once the care team was trained, the new protocol was implemented. When a patient checked in, front-office staff provided a card explaining MyACP and its benefits. While assessing the patient’s vitals, the medical assistant asked if the patient was willing to use the portal. After the clinical encounter, the physician checked the discharge instructions indicating the patient’s interest in MyACP, and the front-office staff provided the interested patient with a username and password to be activated.

Results

The Valley Stream/Hempstead office saw 463 patients during the first month of the pilot, and 200 agreed to register for MyACP — a sign-up rate of 43%. Of the 254 male patients seen, 91 (36%) signed up. Of the 209 female patients, 109 (52%) registered. Initial consults, which comprised 49% of all appointments, saw a 51% sign-up rate. Follow-up appointments, comprising 51% of appointments, had a sign-up rate of 49%. The release rate of results increased from 12% to 21%.

By contrast, the sign-up rate for the previous month was 13%, resulting in a 30% increase in MyACP sign-up rates when nonconventional methods were implemented.

A number of factors led to the increased use of the patient portal. However, appropriate training protocols, an understanding of the utilization and benefits of patient portals, and implementation of this knowledge to encourage patient registration were key to increasing patient engagement and sign-up rates through the care team.