Medical record keeping ay Canton-Potsdam Hospital is taking a step forward, offering patients the chance to see some of their e-records online.

Patients who visit Canton-Potsdam Hospital’s service locations for an inpatient stay, emergency room assessment, or procedure such as lab work or imaging will be asked if they would like to access records from their visits via MyHealthOnline, a patient portal for hospital-based services.

MyHealthOnline provides secure access to appointments, the ability to view or update a patient’s own contact information, and the ability to view available records, such as laboratory results or imaging reports, according to a press release from C-PH.

Records that patients can access are those that have been reviewed by a practitioner and their release to the patient is medically, ethically, and legally appropriate.

The portal can also serve as a reminder of upcoming appointments for hospital-based services.

C-PH IT Project Manager Lyndon H. Allen notes that input from many different areas of the hospital’s services were used to determine how the portal’s information could best be made available. “The patient registration and nursing departments took the lead in ensuring that patients are told about the opportunity as part of their visit and care,” he said.

The portal’s log-in page is at http://www.cphospital.org or https://myhealthonline.cphospital.org/PTAccess/. To gain access, patients must have already received instructions, the URL, and a unique log-in at registration or upon discharge.

Another portal operated by CPH provides access to records stemming from office or examination room visits to a practitioner. For access to the office-visit portal, patients should contact their primary care or specialist practitioner for more information.