Mobile apps allow doctors, patients easier access to recordsFor doctors and patients in the Baptist Memorial Health Care network, care is getting a lot more clickable.On the first day of 2014, Baptist went live with Baptist OneCare, an electronic record-keeping system that will put patient information at physicians’ fingertips, no matter where they are, through mobile apps called Haiku and Canto. Different groups will be phased into the system during the year.A third app, called MyChart, will similarly give patients easy access to their own records, as well as speedier means of communicating with the professionals helping them look after their health.Baptist OneCare, sold by a vendor named Epic and customized in partnership with professionals across the Baptist network, is Baptist’s answer to electronic record-keeping and record-sharing requirements imposed by the Affordable Care Act. Previously, the doctors, hospitals and clinics in the network have used an array of record-keeping methods that didn’t always make sharing easy.“Being able to share information does great things,” said Chris Hopper, one of the technical gurus directing Baptist’s development of and transition to Baptist OneCare. “First of all, it makes things a lot safer for the patient. Because when the physicians and other caregivers have all of the patient’s information at their fingertips, they can make better decisions about how to address the patient’s issues.”Say, for example, a physician gets a call from a patient on a Saturday morning while attending a child’s soccer game. The patient is experiencing painful indigestion but isn’t sure what medicine is safe to take, given possible interactions with other medications.In the past, responding to such situations could be tricky and time-consuming. To check the patient’s allergies, current prescriptions and other factors, the doctor might have to go to his or her office to view paper or electronic records. In some cases, the doctor might not be able to do much of anything without scheduling an office visit for the patient.But a doctor with the Haiku or Canto app installed on a smartphone or tablet will not only be able to review the patient’s files, he or she will be able to arrange prescriptions remotely and schedule any needed follow-up care.Being able to share information easily also has great potential for reducing healthcare costs without compromising quality, Hopper said. A patient who can arrange a prescription or get a question answered remotely might not need an office visit. And a physician who can get information quickly and reliably from a patient’s other caregivers might be able to avoid repeating diagnostic tests unnecessarily, or requiring a patient to fill out forms with the same information again and again.“All of those types of things – the waste of time, the waste of resources, the waste of duplicate testing – all of that goes away because we’re able to share that information,” Hopper said.William Light, MD, who has practiced internal medicine in East Memphis and Germantown for 26 years, is excited about Haiku and Canto – the mobile apps that physicians will use to check records. But he is perhaps even more excited about MyChart, the mobile app designed for patients.“I’ve always felt that the patient record is not my record – it doesn’t belong to just me,” Light said. “It’s the patient’s record, their story, their healthcare, and this really empowers them to access it that way.”MyChart includes features that enable patients to:

Schedule appointments for themselves or a dependent. Refill prescriptions. Keep a record of immunizations, allergies and test results. Get reminders when it’s time for a checkup, mammogram or other wellness visit. Get summaries of information from each office visit. Create an editable “wallet card” to make providers aware of key information in a MyChart profile.

Of course, not all patients will be immediately comfortable with the idea of communicating with their caregivers through an app.“We recognize that while we want everyone to use MyChart, not everyone will, and that’s OK,” Hopper said. “We will still do things with those patients on paper or by phone or however they need.”Find more information about Baptist OneCare and the mobile apps Haiku, Canto and MyChart at www.baptistonline.org/onecare/.