Patient Portal Applications to Enhance Profitability Paul C. Seel MD, M.B.A Vice President and Medical Director Sophrona Solutions April San Francisco The author has a financial interest in Sophrona Solutions

A Patient Portal Can Impact All Stages of the Patient Business Cycle The patient accesses the patient portal from the practices web site.

Patients Want the Convenience of Electronic Access to Their Physician’s Offices…… Practices Can Improve Profitability  Patients bank, trade stocks, book complex travel arrangements and even order pizza on-line 24/7/365  1 74% of patients desire the ability to communicate with their physicians via some sort of  1 Only 8% of patients report such access WSJOnline_HI_Health-CarePoll2006vol5_iss16.pdf

Cost Efficient, Two-way Practice-Patient Communication Conducted Over the Internet  Enables patient self service, reducing transaction and data entry costs  Reduces practice phone calls  Gathers valuable patient data e.g. interest in refractory surgery  Secure, asynchronous communication  HIPAA secure

Patient Acquisition—Appointment Scheduling Allow patients to book appointments when it is convenient for them Allow patients to book appointments when it is convenient for them Reduce patient acquisition costs Reduce patient acquisition costs Low cost web marketingLow cost web marketing Systematically survey patients for refractive surgery interest prior to appointmentsSystematically survey patients for refractive surgery interest prior to appointments Increased word of mouth traffic from satisfied patientsIncreased word of mouth traffic from satisfied patients Increase web site “stickiness”: link practice web site to front office functionality Increase web site “stickiness”: link practice web site to front office functionality Start a meaningful interaction with the initial click for on-line appointment schedulingStart a meaningful interaction with the initial click for on-line appointment scheduling

Patient Registration  New Patients can complete registration on-line  Patients enter all their demographic, insurance and past medical history  Collect patient desires and preferences prior to the appointments to direct future marketing efforts  Avoid missed refractive surgery leads  Act on this information prior to the visit—increase conversion  Less errors with patient entered data—avoid rebilling delays  Improved patient flow, less time wasted, more thoughtful responses  Decrease no-shows with skin in the game

Patient Care: Lower Costs and Increased Access With Secure Messaging  Secure messaging  Substitute for a face-to-face visit and get reimbursed for simple problems as an eVisit  Asynchronous communication more efficient than telephonic  Efficient communication for routine issues  Med clarifications,  Side effects  Refills  Billing office questions answered without phone tag

On-Line Bill Payment  Verify patient’s insurance prior to their appointments, increase collections for high deductible plans at point of service  Speed collections, reduce A/R with credit card payments  Offer convenience to patients

Contact Lens Ordering  Offer patients convenience to order contact lenses on-line  Reduce defections to contacts.com with a convenient alternative  Link ordering to suppliers to reduce inventory costs  Decrease staff telephone time

Gather Patients’ Information Prior to Their Appointments  Gather information in the pre-registration survey on patient desires and preferences  Interest in refractive surgery  Candidates for premium IOL’s  Optical needs  Develop visit plans with targeted interest specific information  Customize the visit of a patient with an interest in refractive surgery Increase Conversion

Summary  Patient portals decrease transaction costs and/or increase revenue for each phase of the cycle.  Data entry is the Achilles Heel of electronic health data systems—off load a significant portion of data entry to the patients. They do a better job than your staff and appreciate the convenience  Generate actionable data—systematically gather patient preferences for premium goods and services for future marketing activities  Maximize word of mouth referrals— satisfied patients are a great resource