One of the most frustrating parts of a visit to the doctor’s office is the paperwork. Even if you’ve been to that doctor a hundred times before, it seems that every time you still have to fill out new paperwork with your personal information and health history. Taking into account the thousands of doctors’ offices across the United States, a tremendous amount of time, energy, and paper is wasted in the process. That is why a promise of electronic health records (EHR) is increased efficiency and decreased resource usage.
This month a Silicon Valley start up called drchrono released a free iPad app called OnPatient that provides an EHR platform to doctors’ offices. The idea is that patients in the waiting room will be given an iPad to type their information directly into rather than a pen and clipboard with attached forms.
According to their press release:
There are no contracts or monthly fees; the only hardware investment is the iPad itself. Upon download, the OnPatientapp allows patients to:
- Complete family medical history and demographic information
- Complete insurance information
- Snap a profile photo
- Sign the HIPAA consent form with a digital signature
The touch screen interface is user-friendly and the information auto-populates directly into the drchrono EHR platform. On subsequent visits, patients do not have to complete duplicate forms—they need only review their information and make any necessary changes on the iPad. OnPatient meets all industry security standards, ensuring the privacy and safety of patient data.
We hope to review the app and report our thoughts soon. For the sake of gerontologists – and their receptionists – who are looking into adopting this for their clinics, it is hopefully very easy to use!
Link: drchrono …