Every Successful Therapy Clinic NEEDS a Patient Portal.
Therapists are busy doing important work. They are trained professionals who want to spend more time helping individuals and less time doing paperwork. Clinics are keen to retain quality employees and improve job satisfaction.
The TotalTherapy Patient Portal is a tool for families to stay informed and engaged in their child’s treatment. It enables parents and guardians to see the child’s schedule, monitor attendance, and communicate with the child’s treatment team.
Improving Productivity is often defined as being efficient and getting more work done in a shorter amount of time. We are going to look our Patient Portal as a tool for increasing efficiency, and engagement…improving productivity. Almost every day we are bombarded with new technology which makes our lives simpler and more productive. Faster printers, new computers, and a host of apps have replaced pencil and paper and improved our productivity, saving us countless minutes and hours every month.
Therapists want to spend their time helping their patients progress, not with paperwork, phone calls, and administrative tasks. So whatever tools we can implement to minimize the distractions from the job that utilizes their strengths every day would seem to be a good investment. And when you look at the features and benefits, there are many compelling reasons to implement patient portals in the clinical workplace environment.
4 Features of TotalTherapy’s Patient Portal that will Improve your Therapy Clinic’s Productivity
Let’s look at specific features of the Patient Portal to understand how they can increase productivity for the therapists and increase parent engagement:
1. Digital Session Approvals and Treatment Plans
The Patient Portal can provide easy access to session notes and clinical data for the parent to review and approve at any time, with convenient digital signature capabilities. Therapists can also upload activities and lessons for parents to do at home, or in cases of extended absence so the child can continue to progress. This provides flexibility and convenience for both providers and parents and is in the best interest of the client.
2. View Schedules and Cancel Appointments 24/7
Parents and therapists save time and eliminate confusion because everyone can see the schedule online in real-time. Our Patient Portal minimizes redundant phone calls and provides advanced notice of cancellations and schedule changes, enabling therapists to reallocate their time.
3. Broadcast Announcements and Notifications
With our Patient Portal, clinics can notify the entire population of clients with a single message that is instantly distributed. It can be used for any generic broadcast message notifications such as holiday reminders or special events. It is also very useful in case of illness, emergencies, snow days, fire, or weather warnings. This feature eliminates the need for multiple phone calls, saving administrative time. Clients appreciate thorough communication and being kept up to date regarding special events or occasions.
4. Digital Forms and Reports
Patient Portals allow parents and patients the convenience of filling out the intake and onboarding forms in advance, online. It can also automatically update the client records, eliminating time-consuming paperwork and redundant activities for the parents and therapists. Integrated Practice Management systems, like TotalTherapy, can connect your practice management software to the patient portal using APIs. These all make the initial registration, onboarding and annual updates much easier. Forms and other handwritten documents can also be uploaded to the client’s record through the Patient Portal.
A Patient Portal is a Necessity for EVERY Therapy Clinic
Having a Patient Portal is quickly becoming a necessity in the therapy industry with practices of all sizes, doctors, and insurance companies all utilizing them. This feature is no longer a “value add” and is now a modern-day necessity. Clients are used to patient portals and the cost of replacing a client is significantly more expensive than maintaining your existing client, so not having a patient portal is putting you at a competitive disadvantage.
From the perspective of the therapy clinic…
- Engaged employees are happier
- Happy employees perform better
- Morale is contagious
- Positive attitudes translate into better interpersonal relationships
- Employee and client continuity is invaluable
- Reputation is everything
From a parent’s perspective, this is not digital parenting, it is engagement in their child’s treatment! Having tools that provide flexibility and ease of communication will generate loyalty.
Other factors that facilitate client retention are:
- Ability to be engaged in the patient’s progress
- Secure constant communication
- Easy to use tools
Clients who are happy with your services are more likely to tell others– which is the best recommendation any business could ask for.
The most important benefits of the Patient Portal are to the patient. These benefits are simple but life-changing…
✓ More access to therapy
✓ More parental engagement
✓ More progress
Larry MorganPresident & CEO
Larry Morgan is the President and CEO of TotalTherapy a leader in providing software services to therapists and therapy clinics. He and TotalTherapy work to improve the productivity and quality of life for thousands of individuals and therapists every day. A global executive, entrepreneur and mentor, Larry is passionate about building winning teams and companies in intensely competitive markets around the world.