How to design user-friendly patient portal homepages to help people manage their health online
Learn best practices for design and organization of patient portal homepages
Few areas of patient websites have risen in importance faster during the pandemic than the patient portal homepage, with a range of opportunities to avoid pain points and streamline the user journey, including:
- Integrate data previews to give patients holistic, at-a-glance perspective
- Provide highly customizable homepages and look to other industries for stand-out examples
- Feature certain provider-based information and action items prominently
- Add introductory help tutorials upon login and make them findable after first-time use
In this Health System Monitor Briefing, we examine how 25 organizations in our coverage group present their patient portal homepages. We assess design and organization of the homepages as well as their content.
From the standpoint of a patient looking to access their medical record and health resources, we assess the quantity and clarity of information available on the patient portal homepage, specifically looking at customized patient information and the findability of actionable items.
As more people now manage care online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and as healthcare providers normalize online care options, patient portal homepages will become increasingly important as the front door to a patient’s whole digital health experience. These pages should be customized, accurate and actionable.
Organizations should focus on providing easy-to-use patient portal homepages with care team information and direct links to tools. Health systems integrate personalized elements into their experiences to meet patient needs and expectations, as those engaging with the portal are less likely to need emergency care or to be hospitalized.
Health systems can encourage better health outcomes when patients are armed with the best digital tools to support their overall health and wellness.
For this Briefing, we draw best practices from other Monitors Research Services and industries to add depth to our overall analysis and identify design opportunities.
Additionally, the Corporate Insight UX Research team reviewed these sites and provided further analysis based on their research in healthcare and analogous verticals.
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