As an amazing health care provider, of course you want the best relationship with every one of your patients. But as a solid business owner, you also want to maximize your profits and reduce your overhead. Often these goals conflict. The good news is they don’t have to. Have your cake and eat it, too. Or in this case, cultivate an excellent provider-patient relationship and streamline your practice’s processes—with the help of a patient portal.

What is a patient portal, you ask? According to Wikipedia, “patient portals are healthcare-related online applications that allow patients to interact and communicate with their healthcare providers.”

According to the 2010 HealthData Management article entitled “Will Patient Portals Open the Door to Better Care?,” providers report significant financial savings in addition to improved patient-provider relationships. Providers savings include:

• $0.63 every time they don't have to mail a lab result (HealthPartners)
• $17 every time they can handle a billing query online rather than by phone (Northshore University Health System)
• $7 for every appointment scheduled online (Northshore University Health System)

Here, we’ll discuss a few examples of interactive technology with patient portal features. As a note, these examples are for educational purposes only; they are not WebPT reviews or endorsements as we have not tested these products.