Secret Numbers

Yesterday I needed to get medical records for a patient. It used to be so easy. I would look up the telephone number for the hospital and get the medical records department. Now that hospitals are all merging, their medical records departments are running differently. They only want faxed requests. I went online to get the new telephone number for the department and could not find a contact number. I searched and searched. When I got deeper into the system, I realized that the hospitals now want a do it yourself type of record keeping. It is called a portal. When I hear that word I think of Twilight Zone episodes. Since the patient who needed the records is elderly, her doctor will set up the portal so she can retrieve what she needs. The portal is putting us into a new dimension of healthcare.