The Decision Process 

At OSIS, we empower Community Health Centers (CHCs) to focus on Patient Care.  We empower CHCs in their patient portal discovery process by supporting an open, collaborative environment that puts the patient first. To put the patient first when choosing a patient portal, health centers need to consider their options and what will be best for their patient population. 

What’s Best for the Patient Population?  

A patient portal can impact how patients engage with and view a practice. Make sure to assess the patient population and what portal would work well for them. What features could a health center patient most likely use? Would the engagement be minimal, or would your patient population embrace the portal? This is a major area for a practice to consider when deciding on a portal. 

Desires and Needs of a Health Center. 

One of the first things you need to look at is your practice needs. What are the goals for a portal? What functions will be needed or required within? Should there be a self-scheduling option? Can patients pay their bill through the portal? What level of communication is required – text, email, or both? Should forms be completed and submitted in a portal? From these questions, internal discussions can help a practice create a list of desires and needs to help decide what is best for your health center. 

Deciding Implementation Strategies. 

Implementation is another area to focus on. We ask OSIS Members who are utilizing the NextGen Enterprise Legacy Portal to update their portal prior to or while upgrading to NextGen version 6.2021. We remind our Members, that the timing of this update depends on what portal they choose. If they decide on a third-party portal, such as Intelichart or Bridge, implementation of the portal would be done prior to completing their NextGen 6.2021 upgrade and led by that third-party team. If NextGen Patient Experience Platform (PxP) Portal is chosen, the OSIS team would roll the portal into the implementation into a practices 6.2021 upgrade plan and implemented by a team of OSIS experts.  

Compatibility and Timeline 

The compatibility and timeline charts below give an overview of the patient portals discussed above and the NextGen versions each are compatible with. For NextGen PxP, it is suggested to only implement with version 6.2021.1 because the integration in 6.2021 is more advanced than previous versions. This would reduce staff training in two different versions.  

To understand a basic timeline for a Patient Portal implementation, we have created an example below. 

Getting Started! 

If you are an OSIS Member and have not decided on the patient portal best for your practice, now is the time to work closely with your OSIS Project Manager and Account Manager to begin the selection process.  Their expertise is here to guide you through the selection phase. 

To the health centers who are not OSIS Members, we recommend starting with the following. 

• Compile a list of desires and needs
• Determine what features are beneficial to your patients 
• Review implementation strategies and timelines 
• Schedule time with stakeholders to view product demos 
• Bring the list of desires and needs to the demos 
• Ask questions about the options they have 
• Schedule multiple demos if necessary 
• Make sure you view every available option  

Choosing your Patient Portal is an important process and should not be rushed. Contact OSIS if your health center is not an OSIS Member and would like to learn more about our services offered exclusively to Community Health Centers across the country.