In 2011, Novant Health debuted its MyChart online portal offering greater patient access to doctors and medical records.
Today, MyChart is being used in eight hospitals and more than 400 physician practices in three states. About 400,000 patients have enrolled, and about 200,000 are logging in at least once a month.
Through the website, www.mynovant.org, patients can view their medical history and test results, check immunization records and medicines, schedule appointments, renew prescriptions, send messages and pictures to their doctor’s office, and pay bills. These functions are also available through an app for mobile devices. Search under MyChart and select Novant Health.
MyChart is accessible to anyone, even patients without a Novant doctor. On the “Physician Finder” function, patients can choose their own doctor or one they’ve never met, and click to make an appointment in real time.
Novant patients have been using MyChart to schedule video visits and make e-visits with their personal physicians for more than a year. E-visits, unlike more simple emails, require patients to update their medical history and fill out a questionnaire describing their medical problems. Then they wait for the primary care doctor to respond, usually within 24 hours.
Video visits cost $50 and e-visits, $40. Novant bills for the services, and some insurers cover the cost. In contrast to e-visits, emails are free. Novant plans to begin offering unscheduled video visits sometime in 2015.
Of hospital systems using Epic, a large national software provider, Novant was second in the country to offer scheduled video visits in 2013. In August, Novant became the first hospital system to begin using Epic’s eCheck-In, electronic check-ins before doctor visits.
