The Patient Portal—Help or Hindrance?

Posted by Becky, Volunteer Mentor @becsbuddy, Nov 1, 2022

We’ve always talked about quick access to all the information we want, when we want it. Gone are the days of ‘snail’ mail and encyclopedias. Now we have Patient Portals! And they are here to stay!

In 2016 the Cures Act went into effect, but the part that pertained to access to patient records wasn’t effective until April 2021. The Dept of Health and Human Services began enforcing the rule which declared that a hospital or doctor must allow access to a person’s health information. Failure to do so could result in fines for the doctor and hospital. Thus, the Patient Portal.

The result is that as soon as you have lab work, x-rays, CT scans, or a diagnostic test, YOU will receive the information (often before the doctor does.). This has led to much confusion and fright for many patients. A test result, read by a patient, out of context, or without a doctor’s explanation, can lead to confusion and anxiety and un-necessary emotional harm. I know this personally, when I received the results of my MRI well before my doctor. Seeing a report that stated “new lesions in areas of the brain,” really freaked me out!

In today’s world of instant gratification with computers, the emotional cost of instant access can be high.

- How have you been able to handle reports on the Patient Portal? What suggestions do you have for other members?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Just Want to Talk Support Group.

Chris, Volunteer Mentor | @auntieoakley | Nov 2, 2022

This has not harmed me, but I have spent a fair amount of time doing partial translations to family and friends. I got this call from my neighbor just this morning, “what does this word mean” she had a large mass removed and the biopsy results were posted a week before her phone appointment with the doctor. I went over and translated without any advisement. Lucky for me it wasn’t a cancerous mass, but this would have caused this poor woman agony for a week. There will still probably be some form of management in her future, but peace of mind can be had. The good thing is that there were other comments by the doctor that she can ask about should her doctor forget to address them, doctors are as human as the rest of us.
This is a double edged sword, and maybe the foreseeable results to a very technological society.