For many PT clinics, keeping patients engaged and motivated throughout their journey while ensuring they get the best care is a top priority. Yet, it’s a real struggle maintaining personalized care that exists outside in-person visits when you are juggling appointment scheduling, administrative workloads, billing, and revenue cycle management (RCM). Utilizing a physical therapy patient portal allows practice owners to extend care beyond in-person visits. This makes it easy for patients to communicate with their therapist, access tailored exercise plans, and track their progress anytime, anywhere.
In this article, we will discuss how PT patient portals improve communication and retention.
The physical therapy patient portal is a secure interface that keeps patients engaged with access to flexible appointment scheduling, secure two-way messaging, progress tracking, and Home Exercise Program (HEP).
Relying on a paper-based registration form, in-person appointment scheduling, handwritten documentation, and manual data entry makes it difficult for patients to be committed to their physiotherapy treatment routine. When patients fail to see improvement, they are discouraged and seek care elsewhere.
A patient-facing portal empowers patients to take an active role in their recovery progress. It simplifies and automates appointment management, patient-therapist interactions, documentation, and the billing process. For practice owners, the patient portal makes it easy to manage high-volume patients without increasing administrative workloads or your workforce.
Communication gaps between therapists and their patients lead to lower patient engagement, scheduling conflicts, reduced treatment adherence, and negatively impact patient outcomes. According to a study published in JMIR, patient portals can enhance the doctor-patient relationship and increase adherence to therapy.
Let’s examine ways the patient portal enhances communication:
Patient portals with secure two-way messaging eliminate the need for frantic phone calls and in-person scheduling. Physical therapists can easily monitor progress, adjust treatment plans, and address any concerns patients have immediately. The interface also streamlines patient-client interactions for post-op instructions, questions between visits, and attaching progress photos.
Physical therapy patient portals allow patients to choose the best time that the session works for them. They can also reschedule or even cancel appointments without the hassle of calling your front desk. The self-serving portal automates appointment reminders through emails, push notifications, and SMS, mitigating no-shows and scheduling conflicts.
Physical therapy clinics empower patients with broadcast and drip marketing campaigns, a built-in feature in patient portals. The feature allows PT clinics to build quick bulk messages or a marketing campaign segmented by diagnosis, plan-of-care-stage, payer, or last visit date. Therapists can also leverage this feature to share health tips and renewal offers.
Additionally, broadcasts and drip marketing campaigns are ideal to announce holiday hours, launch a balance-class series, or nudge post-discharge patients back for an annual check-up.
Here are ways the patient portal improves retention:
Patient portals improve retention with personalized care that exists outside clinics. Personalized features like tailored exercise plans and progress tracking inspire patients to take an active role in their recovery progress.
Patient portals with telehealth integration also remove barriers, such as mobility difficulty and scheduling conflicts. By offering virtual consultations and follow-ups, patients can access physiotherapy care, provided licensure allows.
PT clinics can leverage patient portals’ built-in broadcast and drip marketing campaigns for patient engagement. It automates monthly tips, and check-in surveys help you stay top-of-mind with patients after treatment while reconnecting with those who haven’t visited in a while.
On top of that, PT clinics operating wellness membership models can use the drip marketing campaign to build a reminder cadence about renewal offers, eliminating the need to chase payments.
A recent study on ScienceDirect suggests that patient-therapist issues are one of the major reasons why patients don’t follow through with physiotherapy treatments. Patient-centered portals that streamlining therapist-patient communication, flexible scheduling, and access to educational materials leave a lasting impression on a patient, who later becomes a repeat customer. It allows patients to book sessions anytime, join virtual therapy sessions, monitor progress, and communicate with their physical therapist on a single platform.
Choosing the right PT management solution with a patient portal is essential for streamlined operations, accessibility, patient retention, and communication.
Here are the key factors to consider when making this decision:
Practice owners often deal with fluctuating reimbursement schedules, billing code errors, unexpected denials, endless paperwork, and lengthy appeals while getting reimbursement from the insurance companies.
Opting for a patient portal with built-in superbills for out-of-network (OON) benefits eliminates these setbacks. It empowers clinics to request up-front payment while allowing patients to get reimbursed for physical therapy session costs paid for out of their pockets.
One way to strengthen patient experience with your practice is to opt for a patient portal with an integrated system. Platforms like PtEverywhere offer multiple integrations, including Native HEP, in-app progress tracking, and built-in telehealth for virtual visits.
With the self-serving portal, patients can book a visit, make a payment, and interact with therapists in one place. Users can also watch exercise videos, join video visits, and receive push reminders about their appointment.
Opting for a patient portal that works on Windows, macOS, iOS, iPad, and Android devices from one platform ensures easy access, better patient engagement, and a smoother user experience across all touchpoints.
An ideal PT patient portal should have a clean and intuitive interface that patients can navigate easily. Opting for a portal with a patient-friendly design keeps patients engaged and committed to their treatment plans.
A recent study shows that patient-centered communication has positive health outcomes. PtEverywhere’s patient portal helps PT clinics deliver a true hybrid and personalized patient experience that inspires patients to stay committed to their treatment, leading to better patient outcomes. It keeps patients engaged, even beyond the clinic, with secure messaging, digital exercise programs, and progress tracking in one platform.
Request a demo with PtEverywhere today to keep your patients connected.