With todays interconnectivity, no connection is more critical than information related
to our health.
Medical data used and shared by doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists must be accurate and instantly
accessible.
So important.
Carrie Bruening, director of marketing for AllScrips, a company dedicated to connecting
health care data joins us to kick off this discussion, and coming up a little bit later,
we're going to meet an IT specialist from MIT, who'll share some in depth insight from
the patient and provider's side.
Good morning.
Good morning, Olga.
It's so wonderful to be here.
I'm glad you're here, because I know we've come a long way when it comes to medical information
way back when to today.
Let's start with Carrie.
Why is it so important to kind of like connect all the dots with our medical data, our health
information?
Why is that so vital?
It's very vital to anyone, anyone whose had a family member with a chronic health issue,
or a complex health issue understands how important it is to connect those dots.
Once you start leaving the network of your primary care physician and start seeing a
specialist in cancer, or a specialist in surgery, they may not be using the same electronic
health record that your primary care doctor is using.
One of the really cool things about what our organization can provide to patients and their
family members is a website.
You can log in once and see what your specialist is doing for your care, what your primary
care doc is doing for your care, and even what your surgeon is doing for your care,
no matter what electronic health record they're using.
Now let me ask you something.
Your company, and I was reading this, AllScrips, it's describes itself as a technology provider
using a unique "open architecture."
What does that mean?
Open architecture allows computers from different companies to talk to each other behind the
scenes.
In health care, you have doctors, as we discussed before, who might be using different electronic
records, and you need to have one website where you can log in and get access to your
results from your specialist, access to your results from your surgeon, access to results
from your primary care physician without having to log into three different websites.
And let's talk about how this has really changed the way even doctors offices look like, because
when I was little, I was working at my dad's office to try to make a little bit more money.
He's a surgeon.
I remember him telling me "go get me this file, go get me this file on this patient"
and I would have to put those files back, and once I even put them in the wrong place.
It was a disaster.
Oh yeah.
I mean, it really didn't work, but it was all we knew.
That's really changed, and AllScrips has done a great job in changing that too.
Oh definitely, definitely.
You know, automating the paper was a huge step forward, as you know, working with your
dad, you were only allowed one copy of that paper medical record.
Right.
That means only the person who has the medical record can look at it, and that's very self
limiting in and of itself.
Nobody can get the big picture, so automating, with electronic health records, enables clinicians
to access your information on a need to know basis.
If they are involved in your care team, they can access your information.
They can update your information, even if they're not in the same physical location
that you are in.
It allows a lot more communication between you and the care team, as well coordination
of care.
Really making a big difference.
Okay, stay right there.
We're going to talk more about this, and I love hearing this form of moving forward.
When we come back, we're going to also hear from an MIT medical information systems expert.
We're going to examine the patient's side of information technology, how data can be
good for your health.
More when The Balancing Act continues.
(music).
Welcome back.
We've been speaking with Carrie Breuning, director of marketing for AllScrips, and joining
us now Beth Downing, an Information Systems Senior Specialist at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, also know as MIT.
Good morning!
Good morning.
Pleased to meet you.
Oh I'm so glad you're here.
You must be real smart!
MIT!
I just work there.
I didn't go to school there.
You have to be smart just to work there, okay?
Let's talk about what we've been talking about this morning, regarding technology, the health
care industry and all the data.
What feedback are you getting from patients?
It must be great.
We have been getting very positive feedback from our patients with our new website, Follow
My Health.
For years patients have been asking for access to their medical records, and now they have
it.
Log into the website, they can access their laboratory and radiology results.
They can request appointments from their providers.
They can send secure messages to their providers, and they can also request prescription renewals.
All online.
And that's really great, because Carrie, I know that feeling when you go drop blood,
you want to know the results, you're waiting, you're calling, you're on hold.
You never get the answers.
Shazaam.
Now you can get them.
Can you add anything?
I agree with you.
I agree with Beth whole heartedly.
From personal experience.
I'm also a Follow My Health user, and with a history of breast cancer, every year when
you get the mammogram, you know the tension that creates, and being able to log in two
days after the mammogram and know that everything is okay, rather than waiting 10 days for snail
mail, makes a huge difference.
It's huge.
It's peace of mind for that matter, and I love that for myself, and my family.
Beth, what are some other positive advantages that you see when a patient is choosing a
doctor that is using and embracing AllScrips?
Mainly convenience.
If a parent, let's say, is making an appointment for one of their children, they can log on
to the website at any time that's convenient for them.
They don't necessarily have to play phone tag with the pediatrician's office.
They just log on and they request an appointment for their child.
Another advantage is prescription renewals.
If you need a medication renewed, you log onto the website.
Again, a time that's convenient for you, request the renewal.
The turn around time is very quick.
Carrie, let me ask you this.
You're a pediatric nurse, and you know a lot about all the records and the data, are there,
with clinicians using, and you call them EHRs, electronic health records, any problems with
that, that you see?
I can't speak to other electronic health record companies, but with AllScrips and the clients,
and organizations like MIT, that we work with, there's really a partnership on driving quality
and driving outcomes.
We've seen clients, obviously, like MIT, that are really working to engage and empower their
patients to take control of their health care, and we've worked with organizations to help
them achieve better outcomes related to mortality, improving the lengths of stay, getting you
out healthy, getting you out without side effects, without risks.
It's really a partnership towards improving the quality of health.
And Beth, this partnership, which is so important, because millions of people are using it now,
and following and using the portal Follow My Health, if I were a patient, say today,
and I'm looking for a new doctor, I could have moved, I could be living somewhere else,
or I just don't like my doctor anymore and I'm in search of one, does it behoove me,
or is it more positive if i choose one that is partaking?
It definitely does.
I would highly recommend choosing providers that embrace technology for a number of reasons.
One, the Follow My Health website is very easy to use.
Two, it's mobile.
You can also have it, there's an app for that.
There's an app for that, of course.
There's an app for that, on your mobile Apple and Android device.
They're continuing to develop the technology, so currently, as you can imagine, students
at MIT, they use mobile devices quite a bit, they can request to have their appointment
reminders, notifications, sent via a text message.
Oh that's great.
And Carrie, at the end of the day, and I'm going to have you close this out, I just feel
like it just helps the patient feel more empowered.
Exactly.
That's really what it's all about, is giving you control to drive your health care experience,
and to drive to a better quality outcome to you and your family.
Alright, let's drive our viewers for more information.
If they'd like to know more about this, where do they go?
They can go to MyHealthcareData.com.
Great information.
Thank you, Olga.
Thank you so much, Carrie.
Thank you so much, Beth.
God bless both of you.
If you'd like additional information on high-tech and your health, visit us at TheBalancingAct.com
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