According to Julia Chen, higher-income individuals (59 percent of those with greater than or equal to $60,000 annual income versus 42 percent of those with less than $60,000 annual income) and those with more education (59 percent of those with some college versus 45 percent of those with high school only) are more likely than their counterparts to set up portal access (Chen, 2018). The case study that follows focuses on this audience in efforts to bridge that gap in understanding one’s own healthcare needs.
“An underpinning of the Institute’s approach to patient education is “the conviction that everybody needs becoming educated and empowered about their own health care decisions” (Calman, 2018). Neil Calman is the president, cofounder and CEO of The Institute for Family Health. They have worked together to develop a patient portal called the MedlinePlus Connect tool, through mobile technology would provide the vulnerable communities with the recourses they need to be more engaged in their own healthcare. They are known for leading in technology advancement, such as with using EHRs or electronic health records, and developing specific programs which are tailored to the most vulnerable of communities. This includes the homeless, uninsured, underinsured, the undereducated and those with HIV. Outside of these parts of the population, this technology also caters to Spanish speakers. There is a Spanish version of this app. Even those without a reliable number or address will have a place to go for all their medical correspondence.
There are some challenges to overcome. The clinical summary is only in English, but contains Spanish resources to follow up with, so they are still given to Spanish speakers. Also, there are medication error which need to be ironed out. Nurses are working to improve updates and correspondence in order to make sure the medications lists are accurate. Some other challenges listed are that clinical summaries need to be completed during the visit, they clinical summaries are not readily available to the providers, the new idea’s value may not be understood, patients may be concerned about confidentiality, some patients have low literacy, and some irrelevant information is present. With these, the goals are to finish all orders and medications during the clinical visit, to place printers near exam rooms to print clinical summaries for providers, providers can explain value and refer to app for the patient’s understanding, inform patients of access of information through the patient portal rather than a print out, highlight important action steps, annotate instructions and information and to include only information addressed at visits. Overall, doctors express the added connection they have with their patients in either handing them a physical clinical summary, or at least reading it back to them on the app in case the information is sensitive (Calman, 2018).
I strongly believe these practices can and should be applied within my organization. I have just found out about an app, but I believe it can be easier to navigate. So, I do not utilize it as much as I’d like to. Learning about possible benefits, however, has made me more interested in learning to understand my own healthcare through the app. I believe that this is the direction that healthcare needs to go into, as the people need to be aware of their health and take better control. As experienced myself in my current organization and seen in other case studies, “to get the most value from an EHR, practices will need to invest time in training and preparation” (Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care, 2018).
References
Calman, M. N. (2018, February 7). Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Patient Population through Patient Portals. Retrieved from HealthIT.gov: Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Patient Population through Patient Portals | HealthIT.gov
Chen, J. (2018). Patient Portals: Improving The Health Of Older Adults By Increasing Use And Accessv. Health Affairs, 1.
Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care. (2018, February 7). Retrieved from HelthIT.gov: Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care | HealthIT.gov
“An underpinning of the Institute’s approach to patient education is “the conviction that everybody needs becoming educated and empowered about their own health care decisions” (Calman, 2018). Neil Calman is the president, cofounder and CEO of The Institute for Family Health. They have worked together to develop a patient portal called the MedlinePlus Connect tool, through mobile technology would provide the vulnerable communities with the recourses they need to be more engaged in their own healthcare. They are known for leading in technology advancement, such as with using EHRs or electronic health records, and developing specific programs which are tailored to the most vulnerable of communities. This includes the homeless, uninsured, underinsured, the undereducated and those with HIV. Outside of these parts of the population, this technology also caters to Spanish speakers. There is a Spanish version of this app. Even those without a reliable number or address will have a place to go for all their medical correspondence.
There are some challenges to overcome. The clinical summary is only in English, but contains Spanish resources to follow up with, so they are still given to Spanish speakers. Also, there are medication error which need to be ironed out. Nurses are working to improve updates and correspondence in order to make sure the medications lists are accurate. Some other challenges listed are that clinical summaries need to be completed during the visit, they clinical summaries are not readily available to the providers, the new idea’s value may not be understood, patients may be concerned about confidentiality, some patients have low literacy, and some irrelevant information is present. With these, the goals are to finish all orders and medications during the clinical visit, to place printers near exam rooms to print clinical summaries for providers, providers can explain value and refer to app for the patient’s understanding, inform patients of access of information through the patient portal rather than a print out, highlight important action steps, annotate instructions and information and to include only information addressed at visits. Overall, doctors express the added connection they have with their patients in either handing them a physical clinical summary, or at least reading it back to them on the app in case the information is sensitive (Calman, 2018).
I strongly believe these practices can and should be applied within my organization. I have just found out about an app, but I believe it can be easier to navigate. So, I do not utilize it as much as I’d like to. Learning about possible benefits, however, has made me more interested in learning to understand my own healthcare through the app. I believe that this is the direction that healthcare needs to go into, as the people need to be aware of their health and take better control. As experienced myself in my current organization and seen in other case studies, “to get the most value from an EHR, practices will need to invest time in training and preparation” (Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care, 2018).
References
Calman, M. N. (2018, February 7). Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Patient Population through Patient Portals. Retrieved from HealthIT.gov: Meeting the Needs of a Diverse Patient Population through Patient Portals | HealthIT.gov
Chen, J. (2018). Patient Portals: Improving The Health Of Older Adults By Increasing Use And Accessv. Health Affairs, 1.
Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care. (2018, February 7). Retrieved from HelthIT.gov: Patient Portal Implementation Improves Quality of Patient Care and Strengthens Preventive Care | HealthIT.gov