Epic MyChart

Epic Systems Corporation is probably the 700 pound gorilla when it comes to electronic health record (EHR) companies. They provide inpatient and outpatient EHR applications to many large hospitals in the U.S. This company makes the daily work of those who attended medical billing and coding schools a lot easier. They also provide a personal health record (PHR) service for patients through something called "MyChart." You'll see this at the Cleveland Clinic, UT Southwestern, Medical College of Wisconsin, University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Chicago, Metro Health, Dreyer Medical Clinic, Buffalo Medical Group, and many other places.

Want to see MyChart in action? Then let me refer you to a story in the Buffalo News. The Buffalo Medical Group is the largest physician group practice in the area and they have been using MyChart to provide patients with an integrated PHR service. Here are a few snippets from this interesting article: "Using MyChart, patients can see their medical records over the Internet, immediately get lab results, seek prescription refills, make appointments and quickly get questions answered... It cost the Buffalo Medical Group about $50,000 to digitize records for each physician, and providing the MyChart feature on top of that costs 20 cents per patient per month, said Dr. John C. Notaro, the group’s associate medical director...There’s a gain in efficiency, doctors said, because patients can do more with less phone contact with the office and with less time spent waiting for help...Patients who use MyChart say they had little trouble processing lab results and other records, and doctors responded quickly to inquiries."

So, does it sound too good to be true? If more people are becoming tech savvy, then solutions like MyChart and other integrated PHRs may become very popular. If you'd like to read the full article at the Buffalo news, click here.