Question

Define the patient portal and list the advantages and disadvantages to using a patient portal. Discuss the barriers to implementation and use of personal health records.

Answer 1

A patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information such as: Recent doctor visits. Discharge summaries

advantages:

Patient portals meet some Meaningful Use requirements. Providing patient-specific educational resources, clinical summaries, and access to personal health information are all components of Meaningful Use that can be achieved through use of the portal. Increasepatients' engagement in and ownership of their own health.

Disadvantage:

The major shortcoming of most patient portals is their linkage to a single health organization. If a patient uses more than one organization for healthcare, the patient normally needs to log on to each organization's portal to access information. This results in a fragmented view of individual patient data.

2)barriers to implementation and use of personal health records.

barriers such as interoperability, policy, confidentiality, privacy concerns, security issues, lack of awareness of services, inadequate internet access, computer literacy,