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After 20-plus years of working on healthcare patient portals, here's what we can say with confidence: most patient portals are not built for patients. They're built for the business. The result is a tool the average person dreads using. Here are the four problems keeping most patient portals from succeeding.
Why Do Most Patient Portals Fail Users?
Most patient portals set out with good intentions. Safe, secure, easy access to immunization records, test results, billing information. The goal is right. The execution usually isn't.
Why? Because too often patient portals are designed to fit within lean budgets, not to meet the needs of the people who actually use them. Add the complexity of healthcare regulations and accessibility challenges, and you've got a recipe for frustration.
But it doesn't have to be that way.
What Are the Biggest UX Problems with Patient Portals?
Problem 1: Trying to Be Everything for Everyone
Most patient portals we've worked on are also trying to serve as physician portals, staff portals, broker portals, and employer portals all at once. The idea is to spend precious time and resources building one central tool that everybody can use to get what they need.
The problem is that not everybody needs the same thing, in the same order, or with the same terminology. Physicians and their staff are conversant in highly technical terms and codes that patients find obscure and meaningless. Patients need simple, plain-language menu items that lead them directly to what they need to manage their account.
The old adage that when you try to be everything to everyone you end up being nobody to no one is an apt description of many healthcare portals. There's often no consistency in the navigation or site structure. The language and terminology ends up mixed and confusing for everyone.
Problem 2: Ceding Control to Third-Party Plug-ins
The worst UX problems we've encountered in healthcare patient portals haven't been designed by the product team responsible for the portal. They're usually the result of third-party plug-ins.
Most healthcare companies don't want to spend the money to build Find a Doctor or billing tools because it would be a herculean effort. So they give up control over a significant portion of their user experience to third-party tools that were designed to accommodate the lowest common denominator.
What they save in costs they lose in customer satisfaction and user experience. The tools and features that users need and want the most are often a one-size-fits-all solution that can't adequately accommodate the needs of a variety of organizations and users.
Problem 3: Not Designing for Mobile Devices
Most patient portals we've seen have so much information they almost need a dual-screen setup to be effective. That's not convenient in a world dominated by mobile devices. While many healthcare providers have adjusted to this new mobile reality, there is still plenty of work to be done.
Portals are meant to be a one-stop shop for any number of actions users need to take or information they need to access. That doesn't mean they need to give every potential action equal weight. Meeting users where they are in their journey with the right information at the right time is an art and a science, and it needs to be done right to prevent information overload.
Problem 4: Not Providing Help Along the Way
Healthcare patient portals are notoriously confusing, and they're just as equally known for not having effective help features. The most helpful tips and tricks arrive in the moment when you need them most. Think of a password requirement notification that pops up as you type your password and indicates whether it will qualify before you click "Submit."
That's the type of helpful moment that can make or break a portal because it adds the delight that users need to feel comfortable with a digital product. Granted, some of these things can be hard to accomplish when taking into account ADA requirements and accessibility needs.
But help doesn't have to look fancy to be effective. A well-timed pop-up message in a large readable font can be just as elegant as a snazzy real-time password strength indicator.
Don't Settle for the Same Old Solutions
We've seen too many healthcare providers settle for quick digital solutions that provide the most basic experience necessary. They think they're doing this to save money and put it into other areas that are more important for their patients.
We might be biased, but we believe a clear, simple, secure, and easy-to-use patient digital portal that encourages people to actively manage their health is about as important as almost anything outside of the doctor's office.
If you're looking for a partner to help you find your way to developing a better patient portal, let's talk about how we can apply our learnings and experience to your problems.
FAQ: Patient Portal UX Problems
Why don't patients use their healthcare portal? Most patient portals are confusing, hard to navigate on mobile, and filled with terminology designed for clinical staff rather than everyday users. When the experience feels frustrating, patients simply avoid it.
What makes a patient portal hard to use? The most common culprits are inconsistent navigation, third-party plug-ins that create a disjointed experience, poor mobile design, and a lack of in-context help when users get stuck.
Why do healthcare portals try to serve so many different users? Budget pressure. Building separate tools for patients, physicians, staff, and brokers is expensive, so many teams try to combine them into one. The result usually serves nobody particularly well.
How do third-party plug-ins hurt the patient portal experience? When core features like Find a Doctor or billing are handed off to third-party tools, the product team loses control over a significant chunk of the user experience. Those tools are built to serve the broadest possible audience, which means they often don't serve any specific audience especially well.
What does good in-portal help actually look like? It doesn't need to be elaborate. A well-timed pop-up message in a clear, readable font that tells users exactly what they need to do in that moment can be just as effective as any sophisticated interface feature.
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