CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM Kaiser Permanente launched its KPHealthConnect service last week, which gives members 18 and older access to lab results, allergy records and appointments via the Internet. Kaiser Dr. Timothy Kim and Tricia Marciel, Kaiser communications consultant, look at a sample patient screen in an examination room. The program aims to improve health care and eliminate inefficiencies and paper-based systems.

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Lab findings
go online

The medical provider gives
adult patients easy access to
records and appointments

A Kaiser Permanente member for more than 20 years, Suzanne Lewis was amazed to have some lab tests last week and find the results three hours later on a secured Internet site.

"I happened to go online, and I had e-mail that said go to the Kaiser Web site and my lab results were there," she said. "I didn't even know they were offering this service. ... It's awesome."

Lewis was one of the first to benefit from an electronic medical system while it was being tested at Kaiser's Honolulu and Hawaii Kai clinics.

KPHealthConnect -- accessed through Kaiser's existing Web site, kaiserpermanente.org -- began last week, giving all members 18 and older direct access to lab results, allergy records and appointments.

They also can send messages to their doctors and other health team members.

"I think it's wonderful," Lewis said.

Lewis said she has used the KP Web site "as a basic resource tool over the past year or so" to schedule or change doctor appointments and fill prescriptions.

She logged on as usual and found the e-mail telling her to go into her mailbox at the KP Web site, she said. "I didn't even realize I had a mailbox, but it was easy to find. It said my lab results were ready and gave all the details.

"It gives you the results on breakdown, with high and low norm for each thing tested. If something is out of whack, they indicated with a flag, and there is also a hyper link so if you're not familiar with the technical term for the thing they're testing for, it explains in lay terms what the item is and what the test is being conducted for."

HealthConnect is a program Kaiser Permanente is installing in all eight of its regions to improve health care and eliminate inefficiencies and paper-based systems. Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, with 227,000 members, is the first to implement it.

Dr. Timothy Kim, an internist and advocate for KPHealthConnect Online, said the electronic medical service "will help reduce telephone tag between patients and doctors and probably save some visits where the patient didn't really need to come in, but just to ask a question."

"A lot of visits are just reviewing lab results," he said, which members can see now online. "It also offers alternatives to current ways of actually seeing us, which includes telephones and office visits."

Immediate access to all of a patient's information in one system will enable doctors and clinical teams to provide more comprehensive care, he said.

"Just imagine, if a member shows up at the emergency room, we can immediately view their records and learn if they have any conditions or drug allergies that would impact our plan of care."

Members must be registered for the Web site, he said. After entering the needed information, a password is sent to their home address. Before they can access KPHealthConnect from the kp.org Web site, their membership is checked by the computer.

An e-mail tells members when there is activity on the Web site, Kim said. "It is all secure and confidential.

"This is an alternative to other options," he said, pointing out those who do not have computer access still have telephones and visits. "We're not going to replace those things."