By Pamela Knudson, Grand Forks Herald
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services
Hannah Hill of Grand Forks uses her smartphone to monitor lab results of blood work, an important part of managing a blood disease she was diagnosed with as a teenager a few years ago.
Cindy Evavold of East Grand Forks, Minn., logs onto her computer to check on her parents’ upcoming medical appointments and lab test results.
Hill and Evavold are among thousands in the region who have embraced information technology that is changing the way patients interact with their health care providers.
Altru and Sanford health systems provide online portals through which patients have direct access to a portion of their medical records. It is a free service.
Through these portals, at any time of day or night, patients can send nonurgent questions to their doctors, schedule or cancel appointments, view lab test results, pay bills and request prescription renewals.
When the MyHealth portal was launched at Altru a couple of years ago, doctors were worried they would be inundated with questions, but that hasn’t happened, said system analyst Lisa Beste.
The portals, which can be accessed by a computer, tablet, iPhone or Android, also provide the patient’s history of prescribed medications, allergies, vaccinations and preventive care.
Parents can set up and access their children’s accounts at Altru and Sanford, officials said.
Sanford’s MyChart system “is heavily used by parents whose kids are getting ready to go to camp,” said Dr. Heidi Twedt, who practices internal medicine and has been involved in the development of the patient portal.
“You can print out the child’s vaccination record rather than rummage through files.”
Nearly 260,000 patients can interact with Sanford via MyChart accounts, Twedt said. That figure represents all Sanford locations in the U.S.
More than 45,000 people have activated MyHealth accounts with Altru, Beste said.
That’s up from about 4,000 patients who had accounts in January 2013, she said.
‘Really handy’
Altru patients who have opened MyHealth accounts praise its convenience.
