Seventy-five thousand patients in Sonoma County, Calif., now can take their medical records with them wherever they go, thanks to Epic's new MyChart app created for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. The app, which launched Monday, is free, and offered to patients at Sutter's Pacific Medical Foundation.
"Access to the MyChart app complements a variety of unique patient needs and lifestyles," Dr. Albert Chan, a family physician at Sutter's Palo Alto Medical Foundation, said, according to a press release. "With the ability to view personal health data and connect a patient with his or her healthcare provider--where and when they need to--we're putting a patient's health record in the palms of his or her hands."
"MyChart for the iPhone" serves as a pseudo extension for the system's My Health Online portal, which allows patients to send secure emails to their providers, as well as check lab and test results, reports the Press Democrat. At present, more than 400,000 patients use Sutter's My Health Online.
Still, Chan knows patients are becoming more and more mobile by the day.
"We know patients are using their mobile phones," he told the Democrat. "We're committed to investing in innovations that help empower our patients."
Sutter claims it is the first health system in California to offer such an app.
To learn more:
- here's the Sutter press release
- read this Press Democrat article