The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

Ah, one of my favorite topics!
1) The mandated posting of test results and doctor's notes IS EXTREMELY VALUABLE TO PATIENTS. Everyone should read their records or get someone to help them. The Doctor's notes remind me and/or give me more background on what he/she is really thinking. The test results and especially CT/PET/MRI scans describe findings. Because I could read the CT scan, I immediately requested my records be sent to Mayo. The local specialist was not knowledgeable and wanted to do certain tests that would have been risky for me. I also add that one should be sure your specialist has knowledge of your specific problem. There are subspecialties under the Specialist umbrella, so they are not all equal!
2) The flow of medical records between institutions still needs to be improved upon. Big places use EPIC, but smaller medical groups do the minimum required by law, and do not have the IT personnel to forward records. One issue I see regards tests with numbers like blood tests. If done in one big place they provide the ability to chart previous values. But when this test is sent to another institution, it goes as a "document" and not "data" so it cannot be analyzed easily (somebody would have to enter the data) .
IDEALLY all medical records should go to one big global database, and institutions treating the patient would pull the record down - that would provide one database design so information can be analyzed.
THE FUTURE - once we get everybody's clinical profile into a well-designed database, the potential for medicine is incredible. For example, one can track easily how a certain medication works for people with different blood types, of different ages, with different problems or whatever is relevant. Example is with Covid. States are tracking, but not all in the same way so we lose information. Ideally, they should tell you when you got vaccinated, time that passed from vaccination when you got Covid, profile of who is sicker etc. That would help in deciding best time for boosters

This is a great topic. Technology now gives us so many options.. all information from all over the world, on any topic is at our finger tips.
I love the patient portal. I love i can link it to the portals of my primary doctor or other providers.
I just love the convenience and the 24/7 access to my information.
I had no less than 6 tests and visits in 1 day. It was frightening. I was able to keep track of each step, got the results as they were available.
Ultimately the doctors still called me at the end of the day to give me details and explain next steps. Technology does not replace the human factor but completes it, enhances it.

Not all information is released automatically. This addresses critical updates that could cause untimely and sometimes unecessary anxiety.
I had a hysterectomy after a cancer diagnosis. Tissue was sent for detailed diagnosis on the type of cancer. I saw on the surgery notes that the doctors requested the results be released manually to them.
At first i was frustrated. But not all information can be absorbed and processed efficiently by just reading alone when you are directly impacted .. and lets be honest, when you are not medically trained.
I am glad i had to wait for the phone call and the explanations.

So .. yeaaaah go team patient portal … and yeeaaaah go team doctors.

I have to add … patients portals are not all the same across providers … and technology only works the way the “owners” decide to use it.
Mayo Clinic is i think doing a great job. My primary doctor’s network is pretty good too.
I cannot say the same for another provider i have seen for 25 years regularly. Nothing to say against the medical care.
Oh they have a portal .. you can log in. .. it just is empty… nothing except for the personal information you input yourself. I decided to formally request all my medical records from them. Ironically, they scanned documents and posted them on a totally different portal…. Go figure.

I have a question I guess really for the moderators. I have read you can opt out of automatic sharing for EHR, predominantly Epic, by notifying your regional health information exchange but can not find the way to do this. I find it disconcerting that a doctor may, for an opinion or diagnosis, base it on another doctor’s note in Epic that was from a different hospital system and for which I did not give him/her consent to do. Not to mention doctors notes I cannot see unless I specifically request these “hidden” notes. There is most likely a reason I am going to a different hospital system in the first place. Does anyone have any ideas about this?

This is such a great topic and very important in regards to healthcare. Thanks for bringing this up.
I do not use a digital medical records account with any Dr or hospital. This is consistent with also not doing on-line banking. Despite what the public is told, there is no such thing as Internet Security. Years ago, every device, account+ communication of mine was hacked by a notorious hacker group. I lost a huge amount of assets AND my privacy was so exposed that it made me a target of other things.
I have informed my Dr that I want all seriously bad medical reports related to me in his office. Not even by telephone. I'm glad I did this when I got a phone call which started "About your MRI .." It was of the brain. I stopped him right there and said " I have an appointment in 5 days. I'll discuss it then please, not now. And I have to go now." Because I need to be in a situation where I can absorb the information, process it and gain stability thru dialog when the news is potentially disruptive to my life. WEBMD is great for many things but it doesn't take the place of a Drs judgment into a specific patient's status.
Digital records are good for intra- medical sharing such as if you show up in the ER. But they are not a benefit to me directly.

I find the patient portal to be a wonderful tool for tracking and taking care of my health. How else can we be advocates for ourselves without this information! We need to be involved in our care so WE can make the best decisions after looking at all the facts.

I hear you. I had a heart problem a few years back and was wearing a device to measure my heart. I had questions for my cardiologist and was told that he would answer all my concerns at my next appointment. I could only speak to the nurse there. Didn't really feel I was getting the level of care that would have put me at ease.

Yes the University of Washington is awesome. My sister in law was treated fo cancer there and they really took good care of her, 4 years later is doing great. I live in billings,mt. St. Vincent health care and billimgs clinic are well regarded. I will continue the prayers for both of you

Hi ellisa!
Thank you for the kind comments and prayers! That was so nice of you! You are so right! God is there for us and our doctors always! We are not fortunate enough to be at the Mayo Clinic because we live in Edmonds, Washington. However we do go to a very good hospital, the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle, Washington which is 15 miles south of Edmonds. It has great doctors there and my husband gets excellent care. However, I do research his cancer and treatment on the Mayo Clinic because I know I am getting the very best advice and I do! I also research my own physical problems such as incontinence on the Mayo Clinic website. We are so lucky to be able to do that! This forum has been great! I get good advice and suggestions and also get to meet nice people like you!
Thanks so much!
PML

@ce1b such a perfect use of the portal!

I like having the instant gratification from the portal. I make notes to ask my doctor about.. but I do let the information marinate before digesting.

For me it’s a tool that allows me ease of communicating with my healthcare team..