The new year has come with some new opportunities on the horizon for MRHC patients. Throughout the past year, a team of MRHC staff have been working diligently to learn and implement a new electronic health record (EHR) system that will vastly improve patients’ access to care and the overall patient experience.
MRHC has partnered with St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll to implement this electronic record system as St. Anthony has utilized the Meditech My eChart system for a few years now.
“At MRHC, we recognize that our patients’ time is valuable. The new patient portal allows patients to easily access their personal health information online wherever and whenever they want,” said MRHC CEO, Linn Block, RN, BSN, MHA. “Patients will eventually be able to request appointments, pre-register for scheduled appointments, request prescription renewals, and pay bills online.”
This new system allows MRHC to coordinate care across providers, colleagues, and partners; reduce time lost from data transfers between departments or clinics; and communicate more effectively with patients.
“Our theme for the past few weeks has been ‘pardon our progress’ as we realize that this transition is stressful for staff, and we know that once it is launched it might also be overwhelming for patients at first. However, we know that progress is happening, and the end results will be valuable for everyone,” said Block. “Our goal is to continue improving the patient experience while also encouraging our staff to spend more time with the patient and less time in recordkeeping.”
Oftentimes, hospitals can become siloed, but MRHC recognizes that patients deserve to have one point of access, especially for the services accessed under one roof. MRHC benefits from one integrated record across the hospital, emergency department, and clinics as it eliminates gaps in information when patients are transferred from affiliate hospitals and clinics.
“When we first began the research process to determine which patient portal system to transition to, we were attracted to the Meditech EHR,” said Block. “The fact that St. Anthony was already using this system, their staff could help train our team, and ultimately our systems could talk to each other, was very beneficial for our patients and staff. Plus, if a patient wants to receive care at MRHC but is typically seen at St. Anthony, we will now be able to access those records upon the patient’s request, and vice versa. This improves our regional healthcare system and enhances the patient’s healthcare experiences close to home.”
Some of the additional features patients will have access to include requesting appointments; checking in for upcoming appointments; communicating with providers; paying bills online; and viewing visit history, discharge instructions, lab results, radiology reports, their health summary, allergy and medication listings, immunization records, and outstanding balances.
This system also allows patients to keep the most important people in the loop by connecting with providers and giving authorized family members access to their important health information within the online portal.
The go-live date for the online portal is planned for February 15, 2023. To register for the portal, patients are encouraged to set-up an appointment and be seen by their provider. Login credentials will be given to patients at this visit. An app is available for the portal and can be accessed from the Apple or Google Play stores where users can search for and download the Meditech MHealth app.
For any appointment after February 1st, patients will need to bring their driver’s license, insurance card, and medication list. Patients are also asked to arrive early for their next appointment as there will be new forms to fill out for the portal.
