My colleague and fellow PCHIT advocate and blog co-author, Joe Kimura, MD, of Atrius Health / Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates steered me to this article and asked me to take a look, which I am happy to do here for PCHIT readers:

Zickmund S, Hess R, Bryce C, et al. Interest in the Use of Computerized Patient Portals: Role of the Provider–Patient Relationship. Journal of General Internal Medicine 2008;23:20-6.

I’m reviewing the article through the lens of my own experience using a version of the same patient portal product that UPMC is using, MyChart, produced by Epic Systems, Inc., although the paper does not explicitly mention what product they are using. I think this makes a difference in the interpretation.

The other thing that makes a critical difference in interpretation is the environment in which the product is being rolled out. I will get to that later.

The study encompasses the performance of ten focus groups involving a total of 39 diabetic patients who were portal naive and then portal experienced, as the groups were performed in two waves. This is excellent - a view onto the experience of a patient portal experienced patient is needed in the literature.

The other excellent thing in my mind is the voice of the patient throughout. I wish that the medical publishing industry would become Web2.0 savvy and allow authors to post video vignettes of the patients’ voices on YouTube or something similar. I give a presentation from some of Group Health’s focus group work, and the video is very powerful.

Think of this example:

When I start talking nutrition [with the provider]…it’s almost like I’m not saying anything r I’m just saying ‘blah, blah, blah.’ It’s like she’s not even listening at that point.

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Once in a while I read an article that makes an impression on me, and this is one that did.

• The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry

Why?

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• Online health sites | Salon Life : Is there a doctor in the mouse? - A rebuttal to Dr. Scott Haig’s article that brought me to NPR in December. I think our profession’s leaders are at our best when we react by innovating. From that perspective, I’m not sure I agree with the tone or approach of the Salon piece. If we don’t like what we see in others, let’s create the type of system that we think is better and promote that.
• State OKs clinics in stores- MassLive.com -
• D.C. Council votes to regulate pharmaceutical reps - Washington Business Journal: - Sweeping regulation of pharmaceutical reps, right in our back yard.

I was asked to spend my Sunday afternoon at the top of the Post Office Tower - twist my arm - where I snapped these photos. You can see the Air Force Memorial in the background if you look behind the Washington Monument.

We had a very unseasonably warm Monday and Tuesday this week, and this is also the only time of year when sunset photos of these landmarks can be taken, because the Post Office Tower closes at 5 pm.