Today I received a email from the San Francisco SPCA, where we take our cats for vet care, announcing the launch of Pet Portal a secure, private pet health website that gives us direct access to manage our pet’s health 24/7.
Pet Portals are private, secure websites where you can:
- Check your pet’s health records
- Request an appointment
- Search our extensive pet health library
- View your pet’s medication schedules
- View vaccination history
- Upload photos of your pet
- Update your account information
- Check your pet’s vaccination/medical service status
- Send yourself medication reminders by email
I love it! So convenient and a great addition to the already outstanding services at the SF SPCA.
But…. why the hell can I do all of this for my pets, but not for my own health care? Its 2010, when can I review my personal health records online? When can I request a appointment online? When can I review my prescriptions and refill them online? The last time I need to refill a prescription I had to call and make a appointment to visit my doctor so he could ask me a couple questions and then refill it. When is our health care going to catch up with technology?
I hear you and am with you. That is why I started my company, Zweena. You can go to http://www.zweenahealth.com and have us collect your records, scan and digitize the data that is in them. Have a look. While we do not yet do all the tasks you mentioned, we are certainly working on them.
I thought San Francisco was “sophisticated?” I live in the “country” and yet I have most of that already available to me. I use Medefile for personal health records online (there’s also an iPhone app) and my doctor’s office has a website that allows me to check prescription status (whether it’s issued), make appointments, etc. and through Medefile, I can see the Rx schedules and so forth. I can also do all of this medication checking through the website of my prescription insurance.