Patient Portals - the latest, useless medical nonsense.

What portal?  Summit Health uses Athena and I've found it to be pretty good.

Agree that Athena is pretty good but I generally avoid looking at the test results they post.  I don't understand what I'm reading and when specific items are out of the normal range, it scares me.   If there is something wrong, I expect to hear from the doctor.  

Our doc uses HotDoc, I really only confirm my appointments on there.  The other nearby practice uses UpDoc which is apparently really good for Telehealth.  
I also check Medline Plus website for basic medical info - not as much as before RFK Jnr started changing definitions etc. Hope you find that helpful.

jamie said:

What portal?  Summit Health uses Athena and I've found it to be pretty good.

Atlantic's "My Chart."  When I visit a new provider and they ask for email, I explain to the clerk that I am being  treated for high blood pressure and since patient portals raise my blood pressure, It is not a good idea for me to sign up.

The clerk moves on to the next question.

When my doc left Atlantic Health, I stayed with the office so I could keep MyChart because it's so simple. So YMMV.

I've had two Surgeries in the last 3 years at Overlook (Atlantic Health) that have involved multiple docs, pre-surgery tests, after surgery tests, different post-op specialists, even PT, etc. The MyChart app has been a true gift in helping me schedule everything, get quick test results and doc summaries of appointments, and what's next. I was skeptical at first, but now I'm a true fan.  

I love MyChart.  They do text a lot but I've gotten used to it.  In the beginning I didn't like it.  But now a different story. You can see doctor visits and their notes on visit.  One doctor that I did not like put a sarcastic note in the portal and it just confirmed my dislike of him.  You can check test results and view upcoming appointments.  I think it's user friendly.  That being said, my eye doctor has one that is useless for me.  But for him it's very useful because people can pay online.  I think that's the only reason he got it 😂.  But if you don't like all that online "stuff" definitely opt as it can be frustrating navigating through their systems.  I get it.   

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

They are presented as a link to viewing your latest health information.

So ya open up the link, waste time trying to remember your login info and BEHOLD ! A screen full of Latin words and related numbers - as useless as the Fox channel on my TV.

What we need instead, are brief statements to interpret the data for us:

Like - Ok to go roller skating today.

or,

"Better stay in bed.

or, 

"You're ....d"

There's a link on My Chart which translates from the Latin of Ceaser's Gallic Wars to "just make sure you don't drop your camera."

I use MyChart. Overall, it's pretty good. It's not good for scheduling appointments for my doctors. I have to call directly for most of them. I like getting all the results quickly, but some of the doctors take a long time to add their analysis.  Being able to compare test results over the years from all of my physicals is very beneficial.