My patients haven't been using the patient portal long, but so far it is a success for them and for me.
Two concessions up front:
1) I have few patients signed on, so I can't be certain how this will scale up; and
2) It is taking me (and the office staff) a little time to figure out exactly which buttons to use in the EHR.
I jumped in a bit cautiously, not encouraging too many patients to sign up. Months later, my biggest problem is my own doing - too few patients signed up! The technical pieces (which button do I use to send a lab result to Fred?) will only get easier as I do this more frequently.
Have I had any awkward interactions with patients via the patient portal? Well, one conversation stands out. As predicted by the naysayers, I did have one person contact me electronically to dispute the accuracy of his medical history. After some back and forth, we agreed that he did have some kidney problems, not as bad as I had recorded, but this was completely new information for him. I made the EHR more accurate; he learned more about his health. We ended the conversation on good terms.
In my last blog, I expressed my frustration with data silos. The patient portal is a great tool to connect the dots, see the data, correct errors, deconstruct the silos. The portal is also exactly what we hoped it would be: a window for the patient to understand his or her own health.
In the past two weeks I have tried to introduce more of my patients to their portal. It's hard - face-to-face time in the exam room is limited, the topic falls of my mental radar quickly as the day gets busy, patients come in with a list of things to talk about. But what could be more important for a physician and a patient to discuss than the medical record itself? The accuracy and completeness - and the very access to the data - these are really at the core of the service we provide to our patients and for our patients.
(Oh, and there has not been a tidalwave of problems as feared. It has been pretty smooth.)
#EHR #patientportal #PCMH
No comments:
Post a Comment