Veracity Portal and Messaging Support Calls

When digital access sends patients to the phone

Patient portals were meant to reduce phone calls, and for many patients they do. For others they create a new kind of call: I cannot log in, I never got the invitation, the code did not arrive, I sent a message days ago and nobody answered, my daughter needs access to my account.

These calls are rarely urgent, but they frustrate patients, repeat themselves for staff and tend to arrive when the desk is busiest.

Older patients and those less comfortable with technology are often the ones calling, and they deserve an unhurried answer.

Access problems, described precisely

Katie does not reset passwords or change portal accounts. She captures what your staff need to fix the problem on the first try.

Many portal fixes are quick once staff know exactly what went wrong. The slow part is usually finding out, and that is the part the summary handles.

• The patient's name, date of birth and the email address they expect the invitation at
• Exactly what is going wrong: no invitation, a lockout, a code that never arrives
• Whether a family member or caregiver is asking for access, and their relationship to the patient
• The best callback number if staff need to walk them through it

Messages that went unanswered

A patient who calls to say a portal message went unanswered is telling you two things: what they originally needed, and that it is still unresolved. Katie records both. If the original request was clinical, such as a question about a medication or a symptom, the call follows your escalation rules rather than waiting in yet another inbox.

That turns a complaint into a usable request, and it gives your practice manager an early signal when messages are sitting too long.

Proxy and caregiver access

Parents of teenagers, adult children of aging patients and caregivers for patients with disabilities often need portal access, and the rules for granting it are your practice's. Katie records who is asking, for whom and why, and your staff apply your proxy policy and any authorization requirements before setting anything up.

Because the request is written down with the relationship stated, your staff have a record of who asked for access and when, which helps if the question of proxy access comes up again later.

Not caught between two channels

Some patients will always prefer the phone, and that is fine. When a portal problem is captured cleanly, staff can either fix the account so the patient can use it, or handle the underlying request by phone. Either way the patient is not stuck between the portal and the phone line, each assuming the other has it covered.

Your staff resolve access issues with the portal administration tools your practice uses and handle the underlying request in Veracity, using the summary as the ticket.