New Patient Portal open for business

By Dean Rhodes

Smoke Signals editor

Clients of the Grand Ronde Health & Wellness Center now have a 21^st century avenue through which to handle their health care needs.

The Patient Portal, a secure, confidential and easy-to-use website, opened for business in early February.

“The Patient Portal gives a patient and their family 24-hour access to their medical records,” said Darin Riggs, Tribal Clinical Applications coordinator. “Patient Portal uses the latest encryption technology to deliver secure communications between patients and their provider team.”

Patients can correspond with their provider team; view, download or share their personal health record, including such data as medications, immunizations and tests; obtain around-the-clock health and educational information; and maintain account data, including user name, password and access privileges.

In the future, Riggs said, patients will be able to request prescription refills and receive appointment reminders through the website.

To sign up, people should contact Patient Registration at the Health & Wellness Center and request a Patient Portal sign-up sheet. People will need a valid e-mail address.

A token will be assigned and patients will have 30 days with which to complete their portal registration. If the token expires, a patient will need to ask for a new one.

“We are excited to be able to provide our patients with access to their data and an alternative method of communication with their health care team,” said Tribal Health Services Executive Director Jeffrey Lorenz. “We are hoping that everyone will sign up to take advantage of this new resource.”