Web Portals Offer a Whole New Universe for Health and Counseling Centers

If the term "portal" conjures up images from a Star Trek episode, your perception may be indicative of how far removed health and counseling centers are from the technology trends that are sweeping across other segments of college campuses.

Web portals - otherwise described as secure, online gateways - are frequently used at universities to facilitate course management, commerce, financial management, e-mail and a host of other campus activities. According to a 2002 survey by EDUCAUSE, nearly 90 percent of research universities have implemented, or were planning to implement, a web portal system on their campus. Although its potential to alleviate the challenges of a busy campus health care environment is far-reaching, few health or counseling centers are using this convenient technology.

Imagine a world there is no longer an endless line of students waiting at your front desk for walk-in appointments because they scheduled their own appointments ahead of time. Dare to dream of a scenario where your immunization program essentially takes care of itself, as students input their own vaccination records online. Or think about the benefits of instantaneously broadcasting health alerts or disease-specific information to your student population. And, all of this takes place in a secure, HIPAA-compliant setting.

Web portals offer personal and direct access, provide the ability for electronic notifications at a moment's notice, foster personal responsibility of the end user, and carry the potential to significantly streamline operations of a campus department. There is no reason why a health or counseling center should not reap these benefits when the technology is available. Many of the functions that you and your colleagues provide on a daily basis - from scheduling, to insurance and medical history updates to immunization compliance checking - can easily transfer to a Web portal environment.

To begin this year and new semester, boldly go where few health or counseling center directors have gone before. Transfer your services to a Web portal, and hone your operations so that they are in line with your peers in other university departments.

For information about the Nuesoft Xpress Student Health Portal™, click here.

Massoud Alibakhsh
President and CEO