Some patient portal applications exist as standalone websites that sell their services to healthcare providers.
At times, the lines between an EMR, a personal health record, and a patient portal can be blurred due to feature overlap.
The financial industry has been particularly adept at using the Internet to grant individual users access to personal information.
Possibly because of the strictness of HIPAA regulations, or the lack of financial incentives for the health care providers, the adoption of patient portals has lagged behind other market segments.
This funding was intended to offset the costs of electronic medical record systems for practicing physicians.
To attest to Meaningful Use Stage 2, eligible professionals must have 5 percent of their patients view, transmit, or download their health information.
The most likely demographic for uptake of e-visits are patients who live in remote rural areas, far from clinical services.
A telehealth visit would be much cheaper and more convenient than traveling a long distance, especially for simple questions or minor medical complaints.
With proper functionality, E-visits also allow the patient to update their allergies, vital signs, and history information.
[11] Recent market surveys[specify] have highlighted best of breed, or applications that excel at one or two functions, are losing ground to portals provided by large vendors.