Patient Engagement And Online Medical Portals in 2020

August 27, 2020 • 2 minute read

Patient engagement in healthcare is a buzzword you probably heard lots about in the industry over the last few years and thought of as something you wanted to learn more about and invest in – one day, when you had the time and budget. With the Coronavirus Pandemic that day was thrust upon us all […]

Patient engagement in healthcare is a buzzword you probably heard lots about in the industry over the last few years and thought of as something you wanted to learn more about and invest in – one day, when you had the time and budget.

With the Coronavirus Pandemic that day was thrust upon us all very suddenly, making the importance of online patient engagement a hot topic on everybody’s lips, even those with no special stake in the healthcare industry at all.

So what does the post-Covid emphasis on patients being involved in their own healthcare decisions mean for your business? And what can you do to improve your own practice’s patient engagement and online offering?

An engaged patient can make more informed decisions about their healthcare options and in turn expects care providers to engage them in the decision-making process.

Many patients have been faced with a poor experience from the outset – an unexpected struggle to find the right healthcare provider compounded by finding the simple task of booking an appointment online to be a bigger hassle than they would have liked.

And even once connected to a healthcare provider, after care is often doled out offline-only, meaning it’s left up to the patient themselves.

But the younger generation’s expectations from service providers are completely digital, and recent lockdowns have forced even the most reticent of the population into taking care of every aspect of their life online, including their health.

We all expect everything to be available online and for any service to be delivered in an instant with the tap of a finger, so booking a doctor’s appointment and accessing our medical records is something people are becoming more and comfortable with.

There are many reasons to be named for the initial slow adaptation – worries about security risks, the lack of standardisation in the industry – but the expedited need for patient access created by Covid has led to a paradigm shift among healthcare providers who are now desperately trying to catch up with other industries.

As more and more patients are offered access to online portals to book their appointments and access their medical records the mentality that patients can completely serve themselves needs to change; it’s important that the online tools we offer come with clear guidance which outline the benefits for the patient themselves.

Digital tools like patient portals offer real opportunity for healthcare providers to engage with their patients beyond the appointment booking process. Offering additional services could contribute to helping create a more engaged patient and better transparency when it comes to their healthcare.

Examples of complementary services include intelligent notifications to take medication, clinic finders with smart filters, the option to fill out pre-appointment questionnaires online, seamless video consultations, online test results or prescriptions, as well as giving full access to a patient’s own medical history.

Meddbase has worked with some of the largest healthcare providers in the world to develop just such a portal, and in collaboration with these providers our aim has been to create an optimal experience for patients and clinicians alike, throughout the entire medical journey.


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Sjors de Wildt

As head of UX I work with a talented team to improve the User Experience of our main product Meddbase as well as managing our Telemedicine platform including a Patient Portal and several mobile apps.