At healthcare organizations across the country, patient communication has traditionally run through one channel: the phone. A patient who wanted to receive a lab result, update insurance information, or ask a provider a question had to call and wait, often with no way to reach anyone outside business hours.
At Detroit Health Department, that was the reality before Patagonia Health. Patient information lived across paper files, disconnected spreadsheets, and siloed program records. If a patient was seen in reproductive health and later needed care through immunizations, staff in the second program had no access to what the first had already documented. The MyHealth Patient Portal changed that, giving patients a self-service way to manage their own care and giving departments a foundation for two-way communication that goes far beyond a single phone line.
This case study draws on Detroit Health Department’s experience, alongside that of other Patagonia Health clients, and shows how the MyHealth Patient Portal changed patients from passive recipients of care into active partners in it, increased patient and provider satisfaction, and gave staff a seamless tool to stay connected with the people they serve.
Brandon Atkins, Director of Clinical Administration at Detroit Health Department, was hired in 2020 to lead the department through an electronic health record implementation, bringing over 20 years of public health experience to the role.
“The patient portal embedded within Patagonia Health is helpful because it helps clients take on their own ownership of their medical records and their health. They’re able to schedule appointments, communicate with providers, and see lab results. They’re able to just get in and take a larger section of their own health into their own hands.” - Brandon Atkins, Detroit Health Department
Getting patients to that point required a deliberate shift in mindset, so the department made a point of helping them see themselves as active partners in their own care.
“We really had to change that narrative, because you are the only person who can really advocate for your own health. You shouldn’t be responsible or relying on anyone else to do that informational sorting for you.” - Brandon Atkins, Detroit Health Department
That shift matters beyond convenience. Medicaid requires patients to have portal access before providers can see them under their assigned plan, which means the Patient Portal is not just a nice-to-have. It is what keeps Detroit’s Medicaid patients connected to care in the first place.
Read the full Detroit Health Department case study below.
Halifax County’s leadership team used the Patient Portal as a broader outreach channel for community health assessments and targeted patient messaging by age group or diagnosis.
This enabled patients to assess their health and educate themselves between clinic visits and provided them with an easy way to communicate with their providers, based on their own preferences.
“I would absolutely recommend the [Patient Portal] App because of the immediate cost savings we saw and for all its forthcoming developments.” — Dr. Cardra Burns, Health Director, Halifax County Health Department
Detroit’s experience is not an outlier. Other Patagonia Health clients describe the same shift toward self-service. Through the myHealth Patient Portal, patients and providers can exchange secure messages. Patients can also review and sign consent forms before their appointment, check lab results, and more. Giving patients more ownership of their care with these tools, while also allowing them to receive updates on their appointment times, can help reduce no-shows, saving health organizations time and money while benefiting patients.
When patients arrive with forms and insurance information already updated through the myHealth Patient Portal, front desk staff feel the difference immediately, and patients’ satisfaction with shorter wait times is clear. Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department cut patient check-in from up to 20 minutes to 2 after moving from paper records to an EHR.
“It would take us sometimes 15 to 20 minutes to check in a patient. Now it takes 2 minutes.” — Dr. Laura Varnier, Bureau Director, Nashville Metro Health Department
That efficiency compounds with the Patient Portal’s kiosk-compatible design, which allows healthcare organizations to extend self-service into the waiting room for patients who prefer an in-clinic touchpoint to a personal device.
The myHealth Patient Portal is the patient-facing half of Patagonia Health’s EHR, practice management, and billing solution, keeping patients connected between visits, not just during them.
Across every organization we spoke with, the same pattern held: patients appreciate direct access to their own care, and healthcare organizations that provide it see it pay off in freed-up staff time, reduced no-show rates, and increased patient trust.
See how the MyHealth Patient Portal can work for your organization. Schedule a consultation