Patients receiving treatment at Tomah Memorial Hospital can now obtain 24-hour access to personal-health information from a new secure online website.
“The YourCareCommunity website makes accessing your personal-health information easy, secure and convenient, and with YourCareCommunity, patients can view health records any time of day and from any location with an Internet connection,” said hospital Information Systems Director LaVonne Smith of the new patient portal.
Smith said the portal is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocates billions of federal dollars for health-information technology that potentially offsets the costs of electronic medical-record systems.
“At Tomah Memorial we are well ahead of the needed requirements to meet governmental regulations associated with health information technology,” Smith said. “Our patient portal not only provides health information to patients, it allows us to meet meaningful use requirements in order to receive federal incentives.”
Once registered on the portal, she said patients can access a variety of information from their health records, such as lab results and a summary document outlining medications, vital signs, diagnoses and discharge instructions.
“For example, when lab results are published to the patient portal, patients receive an email message telling them to check the portal,” Smith explained.
She said patients can download and upload health-related documents to create a comprehensive personal-health record that can be shared via the secure site to their computer or a portable storage device.
“Registering for YourCareCommunity is as easy as providing your name, birth date and your email address,” Smith said. “There is no need to fear a security issue since a secure username and password protect the patient’s information.”
Smith said patients are provided registration information by staff when admitted to the hospital. She added that patients can also request information by email at portalsupport@tomahhospital.org or by calling 608-374-6772.
“It makes accessing your personal health information easy, secure and convenient,” Smith said
