On a friend’s recommendation, Karen Basha Egozi turned to UHealth – University of Miami Health System after gastroenterologists at two other local institutions had little success in treating her mysterious and painful abdominal condition. At UHealth, a team of Miller School faculty physicians employing the most advanced tests and therapies helped her feel well again.

“I saw several doctors at UM, and everything was well coordinated,” says Egozi, CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation of Florida, who now sees UM doctors for all her medical needs, including primary care. “You could tell the doctors were among the best in their fields. It really was incredible care.”

The UChart online medical records portal has ushered in a new dimension of patient safety and convenience across the entire health system.

Almost as incredible, Egozi adds, is her ability to check her medical records, review lab results, and ask questions from the comfort of her home with the click of a mouse.

Long renowned for expert physicians who can tackle the most difficult cases, UHealth is equally determined to excel in customer service and patient interaction. That culture of caring has been significantly enhanced by the system-wide rollout of MyUHealthChart, an electronic medical records portal that is helping to bring the “incredible care” Egozi received to thousands more patients. All UHealth patients can now obtain a password to the secure online system that will facilitate their health care decision-making and recordkeeping.

Through MyUHealthChart.com, part of the larger UChart electronic medical record (EMR) system, UHealth patients can monitor, review, and obtain more information about the care prescribed by all their Miller School physicians. With 24/7 access to select lab results and medication and immunization records, they can also e-mail their physicians and clinical support staff and request prescription renewals. Doctors, likewise, can send electronic prescriptions to almost any pharmacy.

Quick and easy prescriptions are only a small part of how UChart is dramatically enhancing the ability of doctors to take care of their patients. “With electronic records, all of the information about a patient from different sources will be in one spot, enabling physicians to come up with a comprehensive understanding of the patient and create a good game plan,’’ says William W. O’Neill, M.D., executive dean for clinical affairs at the Miller School and chief medical officer for UHealth. “It’s a huge improvement.’’

Thanks to UChart, patients such as Karen Basha Egozi can now access their UHealth records from the comfort of their own homes.

UChart is a significant investment for the Miller School and UHealth, which have taken extensive precautions to protect patient information. After moving most of UHealth’s physicians to the electronic system over the course of 2010, the UChart team completed the monumental task of standardizing UHealth’s multiple scheduling, billing, and registration systems and moving them to UChart in December. Now, more than 5,500 UChart users—including physicians, clinical support staff, and scheduling, registration, and billing personnel—are ushering in a new era of patient safety and convenience.

“UChart has made our entire operation much more seamless,” says Amar Deshpande, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and one of Egozi’s physicians.

Deshpande believes the portal will benefit all patients, particularly those who—like Egozi—have to juggle appointments among multiple doctors and, along with their physicians, manage multiple tests and prescriptions. Patients who have been treated for chronic illness over many years could see three-inch-thick charts condensed into easily searchable EMR data.

“With their personalized My-UHealthChart, these patients are in a better position to accurately keep track of their medical records for their own use, such as for insurance purposes,” Deshpande notes. “At the same time, they are keeping track of their health status. In the same way, by having one place where we can access their lab results, see images, and review what tests are pending, we can deliver faster, more accurate care.”

Such benefits prompted the federal government to set aside $19.2 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to encourage all medical institutions to convert paper files and decentralized patient computer files to comprehensive EMRs. The hope is that, one day soon, every patient’s entire medical record will follow them, allowing doctors to devise a tailor-made game plan for their care anywhere, anytime.

Robert Schwartz, M.D., professor and chair of family medicine and community health, says UChart already has changed the way he interacts with patients. Because he needs to make notes in the patient’s EMR while the patient is present, Schwartz positions his computer to allow the patient to sit beside him as he types.

“One of the early decisions I made was that we would face the computer together and, in some cases, I will watch and let them input some of the information,” Schwartz says. “This creates a sense of patients owning their medical records. It’s a huge leap in the doctor-patient relationship. By allowing the patient greater participation in the process, we improve patient satisfaction and quality of care.”