Hudson is First Salem Patient to Test Secure Messaging
Left to Right: Samantha Harris, Medical Support Clerk; Carroll Copen, LPN; Lorna Oldson, RN; Shelby Mallory-Price, LPN; Lori Cranwell, NP; Robert “Louis” Hudson, Veteran; Suzanne Hanna, MD; and Donna Lambert, MHV Coordinator.
Mr. Robert “Louis” Hudson, Veteran, former employee, and current patient in Primary Care Clinic 2, was the first Salem VAMC patient to test My HealtheVet secure messaging.
As featured in the June 2011 issue of Just the Facts, secure messaging is web-based, encrypted communication between patients and health professionals. For patients, secure messaging through My HealtheVet (MHV) offers convenient access to healthcare team members for non-urgent issues. For clinical staff, secure messaging provides a personal and efficient way to communicate virtually with patients. Healthcare team members find that online communication tends to be more efficient than telephone calls and also helps coordinate care. Secure messaging can be an alternate mode of communication and encounter, and improves the quality of in-person visits.
Mr. Hudson has been using MHV since it became available at Salem VAMC, and uses it to do such things as track his health information and request prescription refills. He was happy to help test the secure messaging feature by receiving and responding to messages from his provider until any glitches were worked out. He has been using secure messaging since the beginning of April to request appointments, request medication renewals, and even inform his provider of some non-VA care he received. “It’s usually only a matter of hours before I get a reply,” he says, “or perhaps half a day if I send a message late on Friday, then I hear back on the following Monday.” Before secure messaging was available he had to contact the team by phone. This system is confidential, easy, quick, and convenient. He plans to continue to use secure messaging, and hopes that future enhancements will enable him to download information such as blood pressures and blood sugars directly from the devices into the computer. In the meantime, he gives MHV secure messaging a big thumbs up!
Anyone interested in enrolling in MHV or being authenticated can stop by the MHV Connection located in the main lobby of Building 143, Room BA-101B on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 12:30 – 4:00; or visit the Release of Information Office on the first floor of Building 2, Room 124. Donna Lambert is the MHV Coordinator and can be reached at (540) 982-2463, Ext. 3272.
