ConsumerReports.org - Electronic medical records, taking charge of his health 3/06

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March 2006

Taking charge of his health

Photograph by Danuta Otfinowski

WHO Orlando Sellers, 57, a Vietnam War vet and a human-resources specialist at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

WHAT Sellers can pull up his electronic medical record at MyHealtheVet, a Web site, and enter his daily blood-pressure reading. If he sees that it’s spiking, he can send an e-mail note to his doctor, who may then ask him to come in for a brief checkup. (Sellers’ doctor also checks his daily blood-pressure entries.)
Sellers takes comfort in the fact that doctors at any of the VA’s 1,300 U.S. care centers can view his record even if he is unconscious and rushed to an emergency room. “It’s like having luggage that you take on a trip that can save your life,” he says.

WHAT THEY SEE Veterans Affairs patients view the basic information in their record, but doctors get much greater detail. The charts below show the difference between their views of blood-pressure readings.