"A patient portal is a website for your personal health care. The online tool helps you to keep track of your health care provider visits, test results, billing, prescriptions, and so on. You can also e-mail your provider questions through the portal. Many providers now offer patient portals. For access, you will need to set up an account. The service is free. A password is used so that all of your information is private and secure" (“Patient portals - an online tool for your health,” n.d., para. 1, 2).
What is a Personal Health Record?"A personal health record, or PHR, is an electronic application through which patients can maintain and manage their health information (and that of others for whom they are authorized) in a private, secure, and confidential environment" (“What is a personal health record? | HealthIT.gov,” n.d., para. 1).
What are the benefits of having a personal health record and using patient portals?
- You can access your secure personal health information and be in touch with your provider's office 24 hours a day. You do not need to wait for office hours or returned phone calls to have basic issues resolved.
- You can access all of your personal health information from all of your providers in one place. If you have a team of providers, or see specialists regularly, they can all post results and reminders in a portal. Providers can see what other treatments and advice you are getting. This can lead to better care and better management of your medicines.
- E-mail reminders and alerts help you to remember things like annual checkups and flu shots.
The above-bulleted information from (“Patient portals - an online tool for your health,” n.d., sec. The benefits of a patient portal).
Check this video out to see what the FollowMyHealth patient portal is all about:
Check this video out to see what the FollowMyHealth patient portal is all about:
NIH Clinical Center. (n.d.). Follow My Health. [Digital Video]. Retrieved from
What about security and confidentiality?
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has shared measures to protect the security of a patient's personal health information (PHI) within a patient portal. Laws and regulations have been created to help protect PHI. Organizations must comply with specific regulations to help protect PHI. For example, a patient portal should have multiple firewalls, have encryption, include a safe way to create a strong password, and provide a secure way to retrieve that password if it is forgotten (HealthITSecurity, 2013). Additionally, never share your patient portal user name and password with anyone (HealthITSecurity, 2013).
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