Does anyone else hate patient portals like I do?
I know; I know. It’s so convenient to have your appointments and test results in one place and accessible. It’s so nice not to have all that paper. That’s the theory, and it’s probably even true.
But patient portals enable medical offices to “encourage” patients to use the portal for all questions and communications, and allows the office to basically spam those patients by sending cryptic alerts to go to the portal for some important message or other. One goes there – which usually involves 2-step verification that the patient didn’t ask for and a checkbox for it saying “skip this step next time” although the step is never, never ever, skipped – and what does one find? The message is usually something on the order of “Brush your teeth!” “Don’t forget to eat your vegetables!”
Thanks, pals.
And when I get a text on my phone that I have an appointment on such and such a day, it does’t say with whom. I have to look that up on my calendar. And then it’s go to the portal for some sort of pre-check-in, which involves a review of my basic medical history such as medications, which are mostly out of date and have to be removed from the list with reasons given. I’ve noticed that for the most part such removals don’t stick, and the medications keep stubbornly coming back on the list. And don’t get me started on the release forms and privacy forms that no one ever reads because that would take several hours and the assistance of several lawyers.
Meanwhile, it becomes more and more difficult to get to a human being on the phone.
I’m not complaining about one doctor or another doctor; this seems to be universal where I live and perhaps where you live, too.
One of the clear drawbacks is older folks who do not “do internet.” I work with a lot of them.
Our highly digitized living at times nigh excludes folks who lived, worked & retired having never touched a computer. “You can do all this on-line,” is no help for many seniors.
Those seemingly random (or even purposeful) reminder texts create the gateway to being spam-scam/phished into oblivion for too many older adults who simply click without a mental scam filter.
And don’t get me started on how many pocket calls I receive from seniors who got a smartphone for the QR-Covid check-ins & never figured out how to re-lock the screen before dropping the phone into pocket or purse & then re-calling the last visible number. Apps, loyalty cards, driver’s licenses, bank cards…it’s a quagmire for too many. I vote with Neo here. I’m no fan.
Last year I had a relatively minor procedure done that the doctor was pretty confident wasn’t anything to be too worried about and the results would be available in a couple days and after a couple of days I got an alert that important results were available in the portal so I went and it was very confusing what they were saying. It seemed to be good news but I wasn’t entirely sure so I called the office and they explained to me that the doctor doesn’t always see these results as soon as the patient and he was out of the office that day so he would see them when he returned.
And he did and it was good news and everything was fine but the idea of getting ambiguous results and being left on your own does not seem like a good system.
I really like my provider’s portal. It does not bombard me with spam or encourage me to brush my teeth (or hair for that matter). I find the access to my “vitals” very helpful. I’m a typical man in that I prefer data to rhetoric. I’d rather see my numbers and have time to do personal research than sit with my physician and listen to him hurriedly go over them.
However, I live in a big city and my physicians and locations often change. If I knew I could have a few, critical specialists for a long time I suppose I would prefer that to the impersonal nature of the portal, but I feel I have a better gauge of my health and health history since my hospital network deployed the “portal.”
I simply don’t use them. Don’t activate and don’t visit. Seems to work so far.
The one for my internist works pretty well. the one for the ophthalmologist is a pain in the neck. Fortunately, having had cataracts in both eyes fixed, and no other serious eye problems, I may be done with them in a week or two.
what was the problem it was supposed to solve, i know they adopt these one size fits all templates, across the whole structure,
griffin- I had a similar experience recently with the results from a medical test. I liked that the results were available quickly (the same day actually) but the narrative report by the radiologist was difficult for me to interpret and contained findings that seemed abnormal, even though the summary at the end said the results were normal.
When I got through to my PCP a couple of days later he told me not to worry I was fine.
I have to say though, I like having all my medical information available to me through my patient portal.
We won WWII, built the interstate highway system, and put men on the moon without this “interactive portal” sh*t. Imagine Ike and his staff logging into the “kinetic conflict management portal” on D-Day. “Has this portal been helpful to you? Please indicate your level of satisfaction on the scale below. And remember: Adequate naval artillery preparation is an essential component of a successful seaborne invasion! (link to official DoD PowerPoint).”
Not only unnecessary. Effectiveness-killing and stupid-making. I suspect that’s the point:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit_Jobs
25/75…depends on the provider and the info contained. For my dermatologist, dentist, and ophthalmologist, eh. For my primary care it works well. I think already having a good, personal relationship with my PCP helps. It also helps that she personally answers any messages sent. It is also very useful for refill requests. Tests results are ok, but the numbers are flagged in red if 0.001 over the established guidelines, which can be disconcerting.
I like my portal. My wife does not use it; but I navigate for her.
We use clinics associated with a major teaching hospital, so the portal is very useful in navigating the maze.
I am also fortunate to have an RN and a PT for daughters, so when the portal contains terms I don’t understand, they can usually interpret. On the other hand, I can always message our PCP, and she will respond as her schedule permits.
That being said; I do not like dealing with modern medicine. The PCP, who you may know, is mainly a traffic director between various specialties. It is particularly vexing when in the hospital, which is occurring more often than I prefer. It was once such a comfort to have one Doctor, who you felt knew you and who you knew. I recall that when my Dad went to M.D. Anderson to die, he complained that every day he saw a different Dr. I now know what he means. A parade of ‘Hospitalists’. Little continuity. Little personal interaction. All of the focus on numbers. Maybe that is a feature of a teaching hospital.
My portal is with a rather crappy small town hospital system, but their portal is fairly streamlined and easy to deal with. Messaging my doctors on a few occasions went pretty smoothly, and I love having my test results available. We get no frivolous reminders.
I hear you on the medications updates. One problem is with interactions among medications, and I was told they have to ask us about old medications to be certain that for some reason the patient is not still taking the out of date meds. Liability issues regarding the harmful interactions means their insurers require them to assume any old meds are still being taken unless the patient says otherwise at each appointment. Aggravating.
I get the same kind of endless nagging from doctors to use their “patient portal.” I never have. I just ignore it entirely, and show up at the time of the appointment. Doesn’t make the slightest bit of difference.
I went to the local clinic years ago and there was a doc filling in. She somehow got listed as my PCP. So I am in the hospital for a diagnostic procedure and they are really confused and wanted to know why an old man’s PCP is an obstetrician.
I’ve come to dread doing anything over the internet that involves the slightest detour from the standard interactions the software expects.
I’m hoping it will be a big win for AI when customers can talk to Chat or its relatives and get the necessary information in natural language without waiting 40 minutes or more.
Ron DeSantis made a conscious choice to ally himself with the Bushes and the Anti-Trump Republicans. He accepted big donor money from really bad people and he paid the price.
Jack Wayne:
Big deal. It didn’t change him nor did it change his record of accomplishments, and it takes a lot of money to run a campaign. I guess only billionaires can run.
By the way, you’re WAY off-topic in this thread. I usually am not a stickler for that, but usually when people are off-topic they don’t go as far afield as you have here.
As soon as I discovered that my PCP’s portal was handled through Google, I opted right the f*ck out. Privacy. There is precious little of it anyway, but in my experience these portals are only as secure as the (sometimes minimal) competence of the IT person who does the maintenance.
I do!
huxley,
Regarding your fervent advocacy and embrace of AI, I’m reminded of the Simpsons’ news anchor: https://youtu.be/W4jWAwUb63c?si=WoNyO4GjfTzsZV6i
🙂
As I get older I have unfortunately had to undergo a number of medical tests and procedures, whose results were supposedly to be easily and conveniently found on each laboratory, doctor’s practice, or hospital system’s “patient portal.”
Uniformly though, I have found that these patient portals are a nightmare to try to sign in to, these systems doing things like repeatedly refusing to let me set a password, telling me that I am not allowed to join, that my address, for instance, is not recognized or one which is “authorized,” or some such gobbledegook.
Thus, I have decided to just ignore them.
Unfortunately on the medical front, I now live in a Southern state, in a generally great, premier location, but in terms of medical care–compared to Northern Virginia, where we formerly lived–the situation here is pretty grim, and the supposed “patient portals” here are part of the overall problem.
It really depends on the specific portal. I think many of them were rushed into deployment before the bugs were sorted out – and before office staff was brought up-to-speed with regards to maintaining them.
Here on LonGuyLand, the best one by far I’ve seen is Catholic Health’s MyChart, developed by Epic Systems. Having several of my doctors in their system, and with their hospitals my first choice when I need those services, I’ve used it a lot – nothing like laying in your hospital bed and seeing your test results and doctor’s notes in near-real-time. But I’m also computer-savvy, was a premed before I went into engineering, and have a brother who’s a pharmacist – so I’m better equipped to navigate a portal than many people.
But some of the others can be real frustrating, especially when they want you to upload images of ID and insurance cards – each and every visit! It would also be helpful – and I have yet to see any portal that can do this – to upload a copy or image of my one-page medication/allergy/thumbnail-history document I maintain. (Then again, I know why they like manual entry for some things; it’s a form of cross-examination that often uncovers the reality behind what the patient initially says.)
On the other hand, my wife’s pet peeve is walking into an office, and having to check in on an iThingy-based kiosk – complete with requests for card scans. And this is a lady who lives on her own iThingy.
I wouldn’t mind using the Patient portals so much, if they would just make some kind of effort to standardize them, make some effort to allow patients to manage and communicate their own data. I find that medical offices make every effort to isolate themselves. And this ends up meaning that the balance of power – in this case, the balance of service quality – is all in their favor, and not at all in the patient’s favor. Consequently, there is little value to using a Patient Portal.
I walk with a complete hard-copy record file when I go on any medical office visit – because doctors’ offices SUCK at communicating with each other, and doctors suck at communicating with other doctors, too. A lesson that I learned well as my Mom aged and we had to take responsibility for her medical care.
It’s a strategy that pays off. Sometimes we had to travel as much as an hour or more to see a given specialist, on a referral – having the hard copies of tests and results and other documentation can sometimes be the difference between a productive visit and a missed appointment, depending on a phone call to get the record faxed, that should have been faxed weeks ago.
Regarding your fervent advocacy and embrace of AI…
Rufus:
Apparently I’ve concealed my abject terror all too well.
I don’t use one. DH used the VA portal and I worry about him because he is so trusting.
Rufus, don’t worry about Huxley.
He is not posting anymore – “he” is now the Ants Imperium.
and Snow on Pine is really an exterminator (or Dalek) in disguise.
🙂
He is not posting anymore – “he” is now the Ants Imperium.
–R2L
It’s true. I was absorbed into a Hellstrom’s Hive (see Herbert, F.) some months ago.
We’re not hiding anymore. The govt knows about us and has been waging covert war. But we keep growing and they can’t exterminate all of us.
We have our ways, such as this blog, to make our appeals. Expect a discreet inquiry within the week.
You can’t wake up if you don’t fall asleep,
Ants Imperium.
And I foolishly thought AI stood for Artificial Intelligence.
Rufus:
Won’t you please join my cult?
(Big sad eyes.)
Re: ChatGPT 4
We’re just good friends.
@ Chases Eagles > “wanted to know why an old man’s PCP is an obstetrician.”
Well, given that some men have uteruses now, that’s a legitimate question.
However, anyone past menopause age should have dropped their OB/GYN, so maybe they were worried about mis-aging you.
Interestingly I successfully used a patient portal yesterday to promptly resolve a question. I recently had some lab tests (prep for an annual physical) and the results were posted on the portal. Subsequently I received a phone message from my doctor’s assistant saying she wanted to discuss my results with me–nothing more specific than that. Gee, thanks! Good thing I’m not the nervous type or I would have been quite worried.
I had just missed the call and called back immediately. I was on hold for 30 minutes before finally giving up. This has consistently been my experience with this practice, which I otherwise like. It is virtually impossible to talk directly to medical personnel and they won’t impart any information in a phone message or text.
I’d reviewed the lab results and was pretty sure I knew what the issue was so I used to patient portal to ask if I was right and suggest a response. I got a fairly prompt reply and, since my guess as to the issue was correct, a quick resolution.
Using the portal took less time than my unsuccessful phone call.
BTW, I am a senior and not at all intimidated by technology. The portal is clunky, but it’s far superior to the almost useless phone-tag approach that seems ingrained at my doctor’s.
AesopFan @3:51 a.m., and other women here who are, ahem, getting older, even if you’ve dropped your OB/GYN, I do hope you haven’t dropped having those pelvic exams and pap smears. Medicare advises women over 65 that they don’t need pap smears any more. The GYN I still see annually disagrees, and does them for me every other year, coding it so Medicare will pay. There’s good reason for this. My daughter’s mother-in-law, age about 72, was diagnosed with Stage IIB cervical cancer. Following the “expert” advice, she hadn’t had a pap smear in six or seven years. She’s had chemo, radiation, and major abdominal surgery, and we hope she’s okay, but her chances with that diagnosis were about 50%.
Patient portal works for me. Then again they don’t do the “Brush your teeth.” pap, just appointments and confirmations. Very minimal and calling by phone gets the receptionist, submitting questions gets a response from same.
It might be your doctor’s office, not the portal. Try telling them to restrict the ‘prompting’ messages.
I love my patient portal. I had a question about something, used the ‘contact your doctor’ feature and expected nothing. I had an answer before the end of day. Not from my dr but a nurse, but that was fine.
No spam from my account either.
Neo, now maybe you should provide a post discussing people’s experience with the IRS or similar government web sites/ portals?
I have been pretty happy with the IRS site for the last few years. Even more so once I found their web site where they put the draft version of forms before they release them formally for the next tax year.
https://www.irs.gov/draft-tax-forms
And the ability to make tax payments via electronic funds transfers from my bank beats the old check and letter routine. [The faster you pay, the less pain you feel in the wallet?]
“ test results in one place and accessible”
Paradise for hackers, Big Tech, and Big Brother