Kaiser Permanente expands online access to medical records in Georgia
17 August 2006
Atlanta, USA. US healthcare provider Kaiser Permanente has expanded its
provision of electronic medical records (EMR) in Georgia. Kaiser Permanente
members in the state can now access portions of their medical records
online, email their doctor's office with questions, view lab test results
and review past office visit information online at their convenience. They
also can view or cancel future appointments.
The company is the first Georgia HMO to offer such a service, which was
launched on August 5 at the Kaiser Permanente medical facility in Gwinnett
County. It plans to add future services online such as scheduling
appointments, viewing immunization and allergy records. Members can also set
up reminders for preventive care screenings (mammograms, annual physical,
etc.).
"Our members requested the service," said Luke Webster, MD, physician
lead for Kaiser Permanente's member online access project team. "Kaiser
Permanente is ahead of the curve since the government mandated that all
patients must have online access to their records by 2010."
In a recent study conducted by Chicago-based market research firm
Synovate, for Kaiser Permanente, most Americans said their top healthcare
preferences were accessing their medical records and scheduling medical
appointments online.
"Online services are a part of our commitment to offering the best
possible customer service to our members," Dr. Webster said. "We think the
addition of these services helps us remain an industry leader in health
care."
Kaiser Permanente began converting its 12 metro Atlanta facilities to
electronic medical records in the past year. Georgia was the seventh state
to install EMR within the company's healthcare system. It was one of the
first in the Unites States to implement EMR in 2003 and is in the final
stages of rolling out the program to its more than 8.5 million members
nationwide.
With EMR, its doctors can instantly get critical health information about
their members. In addition to saving time and money, electronic records can
save lives. The EMR system automatically flags abnormal test results and
dangerous drug interactions, since member records are all in one online
space at kp.org.
Because of EMR, Kaiser Permanente was first to discover the Vioxx
problem, which helped Merck voluntarily pull the drug from store shelves
while it researched the situation.
Members can already refill prescriptions online, get medical information
on more than 40,000 health topics, use health calculators to determine
things such as pregnancy due dates and talk to and receive support from
other members about common health concerns in chat rooms and on message
boards.
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