St. Mary's launches MyHealth patient portal

St. Mary’s Health Care System has launched a new patient portal, MyHealth, that gives anyone who receives care at St. Mary’s the power to access their electronic medical record 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“As health care consumers, we need to know what is in our medical record, from our cholesterol level to the results of a mammogram, colonoscopy or stress test,” said Tim Penning, Senior Project Manager with St. Mary’s Information Technology Division. “Knowledge is power. MyHealth can help our patients be better informed as they make important health care decisions.”

St. Mary’s President and CEO Don McKenna agreed, saying, “Our patient portal is on the leading edge of a paradigm shift toward making patients full partners in their care. At St. Mary’s, we believe the more you know about your health care, the better equipped you are to maximize your health.”

MyHealth is password protected and accessible to the patient after completing an enrollment process designed to protect the patient’s privacy and security.  Only information about care provided at St. Mary’s in the last two years is currently available, although Penning said St. Mary’s hopes to make information from older visits accessible, too.

“Looking ahead, our plan is that MyHealth eventually will interface with federally mandated electronic health record exchanges,” Penning added. “The goal is to make it possible for patients to access information about care they have received anywhere, at any time, from any provider, though that level of functionality is still a long ways off.”

Patients who have received care at any of St. Mary’s multiple facilities can sign up for MyHealth in one of two ways:

·         During a patient visit: At registration, St. Mary’s staff will ask you for a valid email address. If you provide one, St. Mary’s will send you an email message after your discharge inviting you to enroll in MyHealth.

·         After a patient visit: former patients can enroll by coming to the hospital’s Release of Information office to enroll on the spot. Be sure to bring valid ID and your Social Security Number.

Information related to care delivered at St. Mary’s physician practices and St. Mary’s Good Samaritan Hospital is not yet available through MyHealth. Records are available through MyHealth only for adult patients; parents/legal guardians must come to the hospital in person to obtain records for minor children. In compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), only the patient, providers who administer care to the patient, and MyHealth site administrators have access to patient information. St. Mary’s MyHealth portal is administered by CHE Trinity Health, the parent ministry for St. Mary’s Health Care System. For more information, please visit www.stmarysathens.org.