Meritas Health primary care and specialty clinics and North Kansas City Hospital began rolling out integrated patient records May 11 with a pilot at Meritas Health Gashland. Other primary care, pediatric and endocrinology clinics implemented new systems July 13, and the specialty clinics will go live August 24.
myhealth for Patients
Once complete, patients will no longer need to access two patient portals — one for the hospital and one for Meritas Health — to see their health records and manage their healthcare. “Patients can use the portal, called myhealth, to message their physicians; select phone, text or mail appointment reminders; and access educational health materials,” said Chief Medical Information Officer Todd J. Beardman, MD, a hospitalist with Meritas Health Hospitalists.
Patients also can view their health information through the HealtheLife app, available on Apple iOS and Google Android devices.
PowerChart for Physicians
Hundreds of North Kansas City Hospital and Meritas Health staff teamed up for over a year to unify the electronic medical records of both organizations into one secure solution, Cerner PowerChart.
For each go live, NKCH IT staff lead a seven-week project implementation with classroom training at NKCH, in-clinic practice sessions, and on-site support prior to, during and after go live. Unifying patient records into one system impacts 37 Meritas Health clinics, 300 physicians (Meritas Health and non-Meritas Health) and 57 hospital departments.
The Gashland pilot provided great insight. “By starting with Meritas Health Gashland, we were able to work out any kinks,” Dr. Beardman said. “We revamped how we provide training and support, especially with regard to use of the message center and refill requests for clinic staff. Primary care clinics receive a large volume of communications, and we wanted to respond to that through dedicated training sessions.”
Meritas Health Gashland physicians were back to productivity levels within 30 days, which is what the team had hoped. “The pilot turned out to be a blessing, even though it was during a difficult time due to the pandemic. I was impressed by how the team pulled together and the pleasant reception of our efforts by Gashland’s team,” Dr. Beardman added.
Todd J. Beardman, MD
Dr. Beardman earned his medical degree from and was a resident in internal medicine/pediatrics at the University of Missouri- Kansas City.