Patient Portal FAQ for Providers

Patient Portal FAQ for Providers

What is MyHealthInfo?

MyHealthInfo offers patients of participating Munson Healthcare hospitals, clinics, and physician practices convenient, personalized, and secure online access to their health records, including:

  • A history of imaging, laboratory, and pathology test results, as well as procedures performed.
  • A list of current allergies, immunizations, medications, smoking status, and health issues.
  • Latest vital signs, including blood pressure.
  • Progress notes

For emergency room visits, surgeries, results from an imaging or lab test conducted at the hospital, or a hospital stay, patients may also be able to view:

  • A summary of their hospital visit, including reason for hospitalization.
  • Discharge instructions and patient education materials to help them better manage their own care after leaving the hospital. 

What results can patients see in MyHealthInfo?

Once an inpatient or outpatient signs up for the MyHealthInfo Patient Portal, they will see:

  • Laboratory test results (including sensitive labs such as STD/HIV, toxicology, tumor markers, and blood typing)
  • Pathology reports (including HPV and Autopsy results)
  • Radiology test results
  • MHC-owned Ambulatory/ED/Urgent Care Reports 
  • Hospital Course and Discharge Summaries
  • Laboratory Documents

  • Operative/Procedure Reports

  • History and Physical Reports

  • Consultation and Internal Medicine Notes

  • Electrocardiogram (EKG), Holter/Event Recorder, and Echocardiogram Results 

  • Progress notes 

  • Smoking status

What historical results are available to patients in MyHealthInfo?

Patients can access:

  • Laboratory results from 2001 to present
  • Radiology and Pathology results from January 1, 2011 to present
  • Additional data (see above) from December 4, 2018 to present or when it was required to start documenting it in Cerner

When are test results available to patients in MyHealthInfo?

Testing results are available to patients immediately after they have been determined and authenticated.

  • Laboratory: Inpatient and outpatient lab test results are viewable in the patient portal immediately after the results are determined and entered into PowerChart including sensitive lab results, such as STD/HIV, toxicology, tumor markers, and blood typing. Only discrete lab results will display in the portal. Labs that are resulted in text format will not display (e.g. some microbiology and tests sent to outside agencies or laboratories for testing).
  • Pathology (including HPV and Autopsy): Results are available immediately after authentication.
  • Radiology: Results are viewable in the portal immediately after the results are determined and signed off by a Radiologist.  

Why is Munson Healthcare making these changes to the MyHealthInfo Cerner Patient Portal?

In today's health care environment, patients have an expectation of greater access to and control of their personal health information. Hospitals and physician practices are responding with greater and more immediate access to patient test results, which support the patient in being an advocate for their own health. Also, the 21st Century Cures Act mandates the release of patient information electronically to those with a valid, legal right to request information including, but not limited to, patient, payer, provider, or insurance. 

Patients already have immediate access to test results in the following ways: 

  • Patients who utilize independent mobile applications that contain their personal data, can gain immediate access to their results through these apps. This is a Meaningful Use requirement.
  • Patients can currently contact the Health Information Management (Medical Records) department to request a copy of all of their results immediately.
  • Most test results are also present in Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs), which are generated at the time of care transitions

What else can patients see in the portal?

Patients who have had an inpatient visit will have additional information in their portal account. This information is updated at their last hospital admission/discharge.

  • Care plan and care team
  • Allergy list
  • Past problem list
  • Medication list and medication history
  • Discharge instructions
  • Patient education
  • Procedures performed during admission
  • Reason for hospitalization
  • Summary of care
  • Vital signs at discharge
  • Smoking status
  • Progress notes

If a patient does not have information for these items in their PowerChart record, no information will display in the portal.

How do patients sign up?

Patients who wish to participate can sign up for the MyHealthInfo patient portal in three ways.

  1. Self-enroll by visiting munsonhealthcare.org/myhealthinfo-enroll.
  2. Call us at 231-935-2026 to enroll over the phone.
  3. Enroll in person during their next visit to a participating Munson Healthcare hospital, clinic, or physician practice. When checking-in, they may simply mention their desire to sign up. They’ll be asked to provide three patient identifiers to confirm your identity and an email address. A secure invitation will be sent to you via email within 72 hours. Your email invitation to MyHealthInfo will enable you to log in and create your own username and password.

Who can have a patient portal?

Any person age 13 and older with an active email address can have a patient portal account.

We also offer proxy access, which allows:

  • A parent or guardian to access their minor child’s (under the age of 18) portal account
  • An adult to grant portal access to another adult (spouse, adult child, family member, or friend) with a signed consent

Will patients see results from my practice’s patient portal?

If your practice offers a patient portal, your patients will need to access that account separately. However, test results that are resulted at a Munson Healthcare facility will populate as stated above in the MyHealthInfo patient portal.

Can patients message me through the MyHealthInfo patient portal?

Messaging is not available for services provided at the hospital or for hospital stays. Patients of participating Munson Healthcare clinics and physician practices have the ability to securely send and receive messages with their physician or advanced practice provider to ask questions or update information.

Why is the hospital offering a patient portal?

Meaningful Use requires all hospitals to offer a patient portal.

Additionally, direct release of lab test results to patients is being mandated nationally when requested by the patient. The Department of Health and Human Services issued the final rule in February 2014 which amends the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988 (CLIA) regulations to allow laboratories to give patients or a person designated by the patient direct access to the patient’s completed laboratory test reports.

Lastly, allowing patients a secure way to access their medical records electronically is a way to encourage patients to be more involved in their health management. Having this available to our patients is a service that is requested and required more frequently by our patient population.

For more information, go to munsonhealthcare.org/patientportal.