What is a Patient Portal?
A patient portal is a secure online website that gives you convenient 24-hour access to portions of your personal health information – in your Electronic Health Record or EHR – from anywhere with an internet connection.
Why is Using a Patient Portal Important?
Accessing your personal health records through a patient portal can help you be more actively involved in your own health care. Also, patient portals offer self-service options that can eliminate phone tag with your doctor and sometimes even save a trip to the doctor’s office.
What Can I Do With a Patient Portal?
The features of patient portals may vary, but typically you can securely view and print portions of your medical record, including recent doctor visits, discharge summaries, medications, immunizations, allergies, and most lab results anytime and from anywhere you have Web access.
Other features include:
– Exchanging secure e-mail with your health care team
– Requesting prescription refills
– Scheduling non-emergent appointments
– Updating your contact information
– Downloading or completing intake forms
How Do I Get Access to a Patient Portal?
Contact the Receptionist at HealthWays/RMCL for more information. Lubec – (207) 733-5541 or East Machias (207) 255-0102.
Once your account is set up, you’ll be ready to conveniently access your health information and portions of your medical records.
Your Health Information is Private, Secure, and Protected
- Patient portals have privacy and security safeguards in place to protect your health information.
- To make sure that your private health information is safe from unauthorized access, patient portals are hosted on a secure connection and accessed via an encrypted, password-protected logon.
- EHRs also have an “audit trail” feature that keeps a record of who accessed your information, what changes were made, and when.
- Although patient portals use safeguards, there are other safety tips you should follow when accessing the patient portal. Always remember to protect your username and password from others and make sure to only log on to the patient portal from a personal or secure computer.
