Carolinas HealthCare offers ‘Virtual Visit’ and MyCarolinas portal
Carolinas HealthCare System launched its online patient portal called MyCarolinas in 2011.
It’s now used in 14 hospitals and more than 400 physician practices in Carolinas HealthCare. About 120,000 patients have enrolled, with about 7,000 logging in each week.
Through the website, my.carolinashealthcare.org, patients can view their medical history and test results, check immunization records and medicines, schedule appointments, renew prescriptions, send messages to the doctor’s office, and pay bills.
MyCarolinas is available only to patients of Carolinas HealthCare. They can make appointments with providers they have seen in the past three years. Patients who don’t have a system doctor can request an appointment through a separate website, www.carolinashealthcare.org.
Recently, Carolinas HealthCare unveiled “Virtual Visit,” offering unscheduled video meetings between patients and on-call health care providers about minor health problems. No appointment is necessary. A team of urgent care doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants is on call to meet virtually with patients at any time.
These impromptu visits last about 10 minutes and cost $49. Patients must pay by credit card at the time of the visit. For now, insurance does not usually cover the service. Patients access “Virtual Visit” at carolinashealthcare.org/virtualvisit or through a mobile app. (Search for Carolinas HealthCare Virtual Visit.)
Carolinas HealthCare is testing e-visits with a group of patients and will begin offering scheduled video visits to a limited number of patients and their primary care physicians in early 2015. At the end of January, the system will launch Carolinas Tracker, an app that connects with other health and fitness apps and devices, such as Fitbit and blood pressure cuffs.
Details: 855-438-0010.
This story was originally published December 20, 2014 at 8:38 PM with the headline "Carolinas HealthCare offers ‘Virtual Visit’ and MyCarolinas portal."