For Patients
Why should I consent to participate?
Participating in a health information exchange (HIE) - that is, consenting to
have your records accessible to health care providers in the region and across
the country - offers major benefits to you and to your
family. Some of these are:
IMPROVED TREATMENT: When you visit your
doctor, change doctors or are referred to a specialist, all
of those providers would have access to the same medical
information about you, including your previous treatments,
illnesses, lab work, allergies, procedures, and so on.
If you are travelling and need health care anywhere in the
STHL region (Southern Tier and Central NY), those doctors
can also access your medical history. In time, even
doctors across the country will be able to access your
records, which will alleviate some of the delays,
complications, and uncertainty of getting sick or being in
an accident when
you're away from home.
PEACE OF MIND: You may remember the
stacks of
manila folders in a
(sometimes remote) Records Room at the hospital or your
doctor's office - one of those folders held your medical
history, and hopefully it was complete, filed correctly, and
protected from flood, fire and inaccuracies. These days, your
record may be electronic -
stored in a computerized data base at your hospital or
doctor's office - but not necessarily in a format that can
be shared with another provider. With the HIE, your
medical information will be stored in one central, secure,
location (backed up regularly) so your doctors and hospitals
will have access to the same information. And you, the
patient, won't have to rely on your memory to provide the
details of your medical history.
ACCESSING YOUR OWN RECORDS:
Being able to review and print your healthcare records is more than just a convenience.
With escalating medical costs, our busier lifestyles, and
the importance of assembling all pertinent information in
one place (especially in case of an emergency), the personal
healthcare record (PHR) is a
critical tool for people who want to manage health-related
information for themselves and their family.
A PHR is an electronic file of your medical and general
healthcare history - information that might have been
scattered across the record systems of the many doctor's
offices and hospitals you visit.
Your PHR would include details about allergies,
adverse drug reactions, medications you're taking, illnesses
and hospitalizations, surgeries and other medical
procedures, vaccinations, laboratory test results, family
history, and so on.
STHLNY will soon make your PHR available at
your fingertips via an internet-based "patient portal" that
will show you all of the information stored about you
on the HIE. You can log in to see your medical
history, communicate with your providers, make appointments,
ask questions, provide medical updates and, with permission,
manage the PHR for a family member. You will also be able to
see who and when others have accessed your records.
STHLNY will be making a PHR available to every healthcare
consumer who receives treatment in the region accessible
from a link on our website beginning in early 2010.
