Here at Fusion, we recently added a robust Patient Portal feature to our clinic management software suite. It’s a powerful tool that can make a big impact at pediatric therapy clinics. Because we have patient portals on the brain, we wanted to do a series of blog posts about how you can get the most benefit out of it.
This series will apply to most patient portals, not just the one we provide at Fusion! If your current clinic management software or EMR doesn’t have a patient portal, we’d love to showcase ours to you. Visit our Demo page to request a demo!
Now, let’s dive into how a Patient Portal can benefit your pediatric therapy practice.
What is a Patient Portal?
A Patient Portal is a webpage that your customers can use to securely access patient information, view appointments, print important documents, and even process payments. They can do all of these things on their own time without you having to do anything beyond the initial setup.
1. It will save you time.
Because your patients have round-the-clock access to some of the things they need, there will be fewer questions to answer and less hand-holding to be done. Plus, you can customize what your customer’s have access to.
Your days of constantly having to email documentation or invoices to the same patient multiple times are over!
2. It will help you get paid.
Because your customers no longer have to be on location to make a payment, it’s easier for you to get paid. The whole process is convenient for all parties involved, making the entire experience a lot better.
3. It will simplify reporting and reconciliation.
When choosing an EMR or clinic management software, it’s vital to choose one that has integrated payment processing. Why? Because if you choose a third-party processor like Square, you’ll have to accept and record transactions outside of your EMR and then reconcile with your patient records after the fact.
With an integrated processor like the one we provide at Fusion, all you have to do is accept the payment, and it’s automatically linked to your patient records.
In a nutshell, it means fewer steps and faster payments.
Did we mention that our transaction rate for keyed-in payments (the kind your patients will be making) is competitive? Our rate is 2.85% + 30¢ per transaction versus Square’s which is 3.5% + 15¢ per keyed-in transaction.
Bonus tip: you have to watch out when selecting a payment processor because the transaction rate they advertise is often only part of the story. Almost all payment processors have numerous rates for different types of transactions, but here at Fusion we have one simple rate no matter what the type of transaction is.
4. It will give your patients a better experience.
One of the ways your pediatric therapy practice stands apart from others is the level of care you provide and the experience your customers have. Providing an accessible and easy-to-use Patient Portal can make your customers even happier!
5. It will save you paper and ink.
Last but not least… a patient portal can help you save money and resources by cutting down on the amount of printing you have to do. Because your customers have access to documentation, invoices, and payments online, you won’t have to always be printing these things for them. You can give them the option of going paperless.
In our next blog post, we’ll teach you how to get the most out of your patient portal.