by NATHANIEL NELSON
Winona Health has introduced a new program allowing patients to access their personal records faster, easier, and more thoroughly –– all they need is an iPhone. The hospital has officially rolled out My Winona Health, Winona Health’s secure patient portal, onto Health Records for iPhone, providing patients’ medical data at the touch of a finger.
The portal will now work in conjunction with the Apple Health app, an in-house application available on all Apple devices. The app consolidates health data from the iPhone, Apple Watch, third-party apps and health care organizations, providing a full view of an individual’s health, including exercise, sleep data and nutrition. The app is based on Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources, which is the industry standard for transferring medical records online.
According to Karen Sibenaller, of Winona Health’s Community Engagement department, the new rollout will allow Winona Health patients to look at their information wherever and whenever they choose. This information can range from important updates like test results, or just a patient’s full history, and they will receive notifications whenever anything new is added.
“Accessible information includes medical history such as lab results and blood pressure, immunization records, current medications, chronic conditions, procedures and allergies,” Sibenaller said.
The new program makes it easier for patients to see their own records from Winona Health, but also streamlines the full record process, Sibenaller said. Previously, medical information was only available on individual providers’ websites, forcing patients to create accounts and log in to each site to see what records they have with each provider.
Instead of just seeing records from one hospital, the app allows patients to look at records from multiple hospitals simultaneously.
“The benefit of using the Health Records on iPhone is that if a patient has health records at multiple hospitals and clinics who are also on Health Records for iPhone, it’s easy for them to find all that information in one place rather than going to each organization’s health record portal,” Sibenaller explained.
To use the program, patients must have a My Winona Health account, for which they may apply online or at the hospital registration desk.
The Apple Health app is only available on iPhone, so Android users are out of luck, Sibenaller said. However, the move to iPhone is only an addition to what was already available, so patients will still be able to quickly view their information from the hospital’s main site.
“Patients could, and still can, access their medical information through My Winona Health, Winona Health’s secure patient portal,” Sibenaller said. The portal has been available since the early 2000s, and the existing services aren’t going anywhere, she explained.
For more information on the Health App addition or to apply for a My Winona Health account, visit http://www.winonahealth.org/mywh or call 507-474-5678.
Article source: http://www.winonapost.com/Article/ArticleID/62643/Winona-Health-records-now-available-on-iPhone