Speaker 1: With today's interconnectivity, no connection is more critical than information related to our health. Medical data shared and used by doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists must be accurate and instantly accessible. So important. Carrie Bruning, Director of Marketing for Allscripts, a company dedicated to connecting health care data, joins us to kick off this discussion and coming up a little bit later, we're going to meet an IT specialist from MIT who'll share some in-depth insight from the patient and provider side. Good morning. Good morning, Olga. It's so wonderful to be here. I'm glad you're here because I know we've come a long way when it comes to medical information way back when to today. Let's start with Carrie. Why is it so important to kind of like connect all the dots with our medical data, our health information? Why is that so vital?

Speaker 2: It's very vital to anyone. Anyone who's had a family member with a chronic health issue or a complex health issue understands how important it is to connect those dots. Once you start leaving the network of your primary care physician and seeing a specialist in cancer or a specialist in surgery, they may not be using the same electronic health record that your primary care doc is using. And one of the really cool things about what our organization can provide to patients and their family members is a website. You can log in once and see what your specialist is doing for your care, what your primary care doc is doing for your care, and even what your surgeon is doing for your care, no matter what electronic health record they're using.

Speaker 1: Now, let me ask you something. Your company, and I was reading this, Allscripts, it described itself as a technology provider using a unique, quote, open architecture.

Speaker 2: What does that mean? Open architecture allows computers from different companies to talk to each other behind the scenes. In healthcare, you have doctors, as we discussed before, who might be using different electronic health records. And you need to have one website where you can log in and get access to your results from your specialist, access to your results from your surgeon, access to results from your primary care physician, without having to log into three different websites.

Speaker 1: And let's talk about how this has really changed the way even doctor's offices look like. Because when I was little, I was working at my dad's office to try to make a little bit more money. He's a surgeon. And I remember him telling me, go get me this file, go get me this file, this patient. And I would have to put those files back, and once I even put them in the wrong place, it was a disaster. Oh, yeah. Okay? I mean, it just, it really didn't work, but it was all we knew. That's really changed, and Allscripts done a great job in doing that, too.

Speaker 2: Oh, definitely, definitely. Automating the paper was a huge step forward. As you know, working with your dad, you were only allowed one copy of that paper medical record. Right. That means only the person who has the medical record can look at it, and that's very self-limiting in and of itself. Nobody can get the big picture. So automating with electronic health records allows, enables clinicians to access your information on a need-to-know basis. If they are involved in your care team, they can access your information, they can update your information, even if they're not in the same physical location that you are in. It allows a lot more communication between you and the care team, as well as coordination

Speaker 1: of care. Really making a big difference. Okay, stay right there, because we're going to talk more about this, and I love hearing this form of moving forward. When we come back, we're going to also hear from an MIT medical information systems expert. We're going to examine the patient side of information technology, how data can be good for your health. More when The Balancing Act continues. Welcome back, we've been speaking with Carrie Bruning, Director of Marketing for Allscripts, and joining us now, Beth Downing, an information systems senior specialist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, also known as MIT. Good morning. Good morning. Nice to meet you. Oh, I'm so glad you're here. You must be real smart, MIT. I just worked there. I didn't go to school there. You have to be smart just to work there, okay? Let's talk about what we've been talking about this morning regarding technology, the health care industry, and all the data. What feedback are you getting from patients?

Speaker 3: It must be great. We have been getting very positive feedback from our patients with our new website, FollowMyHealth. For years, patients have been asking for access to their medical records, and now they have it. They can access their laboratory and radiology results, they can request appointments from their providers, they can send secure messages to their providers, and they can also request prescription renewals, all online.

Speaker 1: And that's really great, because Carrie, I know that feeling when you go draw blood, you want another result, you're waiting, you're calling, you're on hold, you never get the answers, shazam, now you can get them. Can you add anything?

Speaker 2: I agree with you. I agree with Beth wholeheartedly. From a personal experience, I'm also a FollowMyHealth user, and with a history of breast cancer, every year when you get the mammogram, you know the tension that creates. And being able to log in two days after the mammogram and know that everything's okay, rather than waiting 10 days for snail mail, makes a huge difference.

Speaker 1: It's huge. It's peace of mind for that matter. Exactly. And I love that for myself and my family. Beth, what are some other positive advantages that you see when a patient is choosing a doctor that is using and embracing Allscripts?

Speaker 3: Mainly convenience. If a parent, let's say, is making an appointment for one of their children, they can log on to the website at any time that's convenient for them. They don't necessarily have to play phone tag with the pediatrician's office. They just log on and they request an appointment for their child. Another advantage is prescription renewals. If you need a medication renewed, you log on to the website, again, a time that's convenient for you. Request the renewal. The turnaround time is very quick. Keri, let me ask you this.

Speaker 1: You're a pediatric nurse, and you know a lot about just all the records and the data. Clinicians using, and you call them EHRs, electronic health records. Any problems with that that you see?

Speaker 2: I can't speak to other electronic health record companies, but with Allscripts and clients and organizations like MIT that we work with, there's really a partnership on driving quality and driving outcomes. We've seen clients, obviously, like MIT, that are really working to engage and empower their patients to take control of their healthcare, and we've worked with organizations to help them achieve better outcomes related to mortality, improving length of stay, getting you out healthy, getting you out without side effects, without risks. It's really a partnership towards improving the quality of health.

Speaker 1: Beth, this partnership, which is so important, because millions of people are using it now and following and using the portal Follow My Health. If I were a patient, let's say today, and I'm looking for a new doctor, I could've moved, I could be living somewhere else, or I just don't like my doctor anymore, and I'm in search of one. Does it behoove me, or is it more, I guess, positive if I choose one that is partaking?

Speaker 3: It definitely does. I would highly recommend choosing providers that embrace technology for a number of reasons. One, the Follow My Health website is very easy to use. Two, it's mobile. You can also have it on, there's an app for that.

Speaker 1: There's an app for that, of course.

Speaker 3: There's an app for that on your mobile Apple and Android device. They're continually to develop the technology, so currently, as you can imagine, students at MIT, they use mobile devices quite a bit. They can request to have their appointment reminders, notifications, sent via a text message. Oh, that's great.

Speaker 1: And, Keri, you know, at the end of the day, and I'm going to have you close this out, I just feel like it helps the patient feel just more empowered.

Speaker 2: Exactly. That's really what it's all about, is giving you control to drive your healthcare experience and to drive to a better quality outcome for you and your family.

Speaker 1: Alright, let's drive our viewers for more information. If they'd like to know more about this, where do they go?

Speaker 2: They can go to MyHealthcareData.com.

Speaker 1: Great information. Thank you all guys. Thank you so much, Keri. Thank you so much, Beth. God bless both of you. And, if you'd like additional information on high-tech and your health, visit us at TheBalancingAct.com or log on to Facebook.com forward slash TheBalancingActFans. ??