By Alyx Arnett
Accessing medical records, scheduling appointments, and communicating with doctors just got easier.
Community Howard Regional Health launched an online patient portal last month called MyChart that allows patients to see their medical records, get test results, message their doctor, pay bills, and more. Now, the Kokomo campus joins the rest of the network in offering the program.
Pediatrician Laura Stage, MD, has been able to see the benefits of the program on both sides—as a physician and as a patient and parent with children in the network.
As a physician, she said it gives her another way to communicate with her patients on non-urgent matters.
“It’s really nice to be able to respond to questions. We have parents call into the office and want to talk to the doctor, so then we’re trying to respond to them during lunch or in between patients. But when you send a question to MyChart, then I can go there easily and see their medical records and respond with a message directly back to the patient,” she said. “It’s a little bit easier than calling and leaving voicemails back and forth.”
An added benefit, Stage said, is that those conversations are documented right alongside the patient’s charts, so it’s always there to reference or to clear up any confusion.
For urgent issues, Stage said patients still should call into the office.
The program also allows patients to schedule appointments. Stage said this makes it more convenient for some parents who are unable to call into the doctor’s office during office hours or who remember they need an appointment after-hours.
“If they know their child needs a well-child check and they don’t want to call directly into the office or realize it at 9 at night, they can log on, pick their provider, and select when they want to schedule,” she said.
Stage noted that same-day appointments aren’t able to be scheduled through MyChart, so anyone looking for same-day appointment should call into the office.
The program also saves office visits. Patients are able to print out a variety of forms and records that they typically would have to go into the office to pick up, such as immunization records, forms required before visits, or doctor’s notes for their children.
“They can print those off at home instead of them coming into the office, so it’s a huge time-saver for patients to be able to do that and not have to come into the office all the time,” she said.
MyChart also is offered as a mobile app through Apple and Android.
Stage said patients at registration or check-out will be given a code they can use to access MyChart. For those with questions, she said they also can call into their doctor’s office for more information on how to get registered.
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