SUCCESS STORY
UCBC strengthened patient engagement and reduced communication friction through a strategic patient portal adoption initiative.
For many oncology practices, patient communication has become one of the biggest operational pressures facing staff today.
Phone calls stack up. Patients wait for answers. Front-desk teams spend valuable time tracking down information that already exists somewhere in the system. Even when patient portals are available, adoption often lags, limiting their ability to ease administrative workloads and improve the patient experience.
That was the challenge facing University Cancer & Blood Center (UCBC), a multi-specialty clinic and longtime Navigating Care client for more than 15 years. The organization wanted to strengthen portal adoption and increase patient engagement while improving communication efficiency across the practice.
To address these challenges, UCBC partnered with Navigating Care to expand portal adoption and deepen patient engagement. The results led to measurable improvements in practice operations and higher patient satisfaction. Within just 19 months, the clinic achieved significant growth across every key engagement metric.
The technology was already in place.
The challenge wasn’t capability — it was portal adoption.
When Portal Adoption Stalls, Staff Feel It First
Like many oncology organizations, UCBC found that important patient communication still relied heavily on manual workflows.
Staff spent significant time:
- Managing ongoing phone tag with patients
- Returning calls and duplicating communication through follow-up emails
- Printing and manually distributing lab results
- Responding to routine information requests
These repetitive administrative tasks consumed time that could have been spent supporting patients more directly.
Patients experienced friction as well. Many waited for responses from the clinic, made multiple follow-up attempts to receive information, or lacked convenient access to health records outside normal clinic hours.
UCBC recognized an opportunity to improve both operational efficiency and patient satisfaction by increasing engagement within the patient portal — not simply as a technology platform, but as a meaningful extension of the care experience.
A Strategic Approach to Patient Portal Adoption
In September 2024, UCBC expanded its partnership with Navigating Care with a focused goal: improve patient portal adoption and create more consistent digital engagement across the organization.
Rather than treating portal adoption as a one-time rollout, the initiative focused on operational integration, communication strategy, and staff alignment.
Working closely with their Navigating Care Account Manager and Patient Engagement Lead, UCBC implemented several targeted improvements, including:
- Refining portal invitation messaging
- Improving staff awareness and internal adoption
- Expanding patient outreach by adding text invitations
- Optimizing patient-facing educational materials
- Increasing visibility of portal benefits across the practice locations and website
- Embedding portal use into everyday workflows across multiple teams
Together, these efforts repositioned the portal from an optional digital tool into a central communication channel for patients and staff.
The Results: Measurable Growth Across Patient Engagement Metrics
Over the following 19 months, UCBC achieved significant improvements across every major portal engagement category.
Patient Portal Registrations Increased 23%
Improved communication strategies and expanded outreach channels helped increase enrollment and patient awareness of portal benefits.
As adoption grew, staff also saw a reduction in phone calls tied to information already accessible through the portal.
Patient Logins Increased 70%
Patients logged into the platform more frequently and engaged more consistently with educational resources and health information.
The portal became a more active part of the patient journey rather than a passive resource used only occasionally.
Secure Patient Messaging Increased 132%
Secure messaging emerged as a preferred communication method for many patients, helping reduce inefficient telephone back-and-forth while streamlining communication between patients and providers.
For staff, this created more efficient workflows while giving patients faster, more convenient access to care teams
Patient Access to Health Records Increased 80%
Patients increasingly used the portal to access health information independently, without needing to contact the clinic directly.
Providing 24/7 access to records helped patients feel more informed, connected, and engaged throughout their care journey.
Why the Strategy Worked
UCBC’s results were driven by more than technology alone.
Success came from combining:
- Staff engagement
- Workflow integration
- Clear patient communication
- Consistent operational support
- Ongoing collaboration between teams
By improving both the staff experience and the patient experience simultaneously, UCBC was able to create sustainable engagement growth across the organization.
As Anna Daniels, Quality Specialist at UCBC, explained:
“The success of our clinic’s use of Navigating Care is largely due to the partnership with our Account Manager and Patient Engagement Lead. Their ongoing collaboration and strategic support have helped us engage more patients and staff while continually improving our workflows and patient care.”
Key Lessons for Healthcare Organizations
UCBC’s experience highlights an important reality for healthcare organizations investing in digital engagement tools:
Patient portals create value when adoption becomes part of operational strategy — not just software implementation.
For oncology practices and healthcare organizations looking to improve patient communication, reduce administrative burden, and strengthen digital engagement, several lessons stand out:
- Staff adoption directly influences patient participation
- Communication strategy matters as much as technology
- Small workflow improvements can create meaningful operational gains
- Patients engage more consistently when portals become integrated into everyday care experiences
- Long-term success depends on ongoing optimization, not one-time deployment
As healthcare organizations continue to expand digital engagement initiatives, patient portals will play an increasingly important role in supporting connected, patient-centered care.
Practices that invest in adoption, education, and workflow integration — not simply implementation — will see the strongest long-term results.
Ready to improve patient portal adoption and reduce communication friction across your organization?
Connect with an Account Manager at accountmanagement@navigatingcare.com to learn how a more strategic engagement approach can help strengthen both patient experience and operational efficiency.