When the pilot is completed this spring, patients will be able to access their medical record in the same place as their self-entered data. But the patients will retain control of the self-entered information, Dr. Kolodner said. At that point, patients can choose whether to allow their physician electronic access to the self-entered information.
In the future, patients will also have the option to integrate their self-entered information into their VA medical record. “The decision to share the information is the patient's,” Dr. Kolodner said.
VA officials are also considering secure online messaging as a possible future improvement to the patient portal. The feedback from physicians has been that they would like to have messaging so that they can communicate online with patients, Ms. Price said.