A patient portal is the healthcare-specific application of a customer portal: a logged-in area where patients access lab results, immunization history, visit summaries, medication lists, scheduled appointments, and secure messages with their care team. Patient portals also typically support prescription refill requests, online bill payment, and telehealth.
Patient portals are now required infrastructure for US healthcare practices under the 21st Century Cures Act, which mandates electronic access to health information without unnecessary delay. Major patient portals include Epic MyChart, athenahealth’s athenaPatient, Oracle Health (Cerner), SimplePractice, and Klara.
See Patient Portal Software and HIPAA-Compliant Patient Portal.