I’m not trying to start trouble. I’m just super curious, and I feel like some of my readers might know the answer to this. As time has gone on, virtually every appointment I make for any medical or dental professional, including ophthalmology, dermatology and dental, will require me to follow a link or QR code and log in to “The Portal” to complete my pre-appointment assessment.
As an aside, when did the medical profession decide that our eyes, skin, and teeth are not actually part of our bodies and thus optional in medical coverage? I digress.
So determined are these offices to have my information in “The Portal” that I will receive numerous text or email reminders of my upcoming appointments, which is really nice. I appreciate that. There will usually be a link to a portal of online cloud storage (I assume) where I am encouraged to answer all sorts of questions and get all of my details down ahead of time to save time on the day of the appointment. Count me in! I am a digital girl.
Not one to shirk my duties, I follow the link and login with my seven thousand or so password combinations, and I answer all the assorted questions. Some of these things take time. It is not unheard of to spend a good chunk of time answering questions online. Sometimes I get to upload a photo of insurance cards, government identification and ancestral DNA (I made that last one up, but barely).
Nonetheless, I persist. I dutifully clicked boxes and entered “more info” on my entire medical history, whether or not I am a drunk or simply a “social drinker.” Whether or not I smoke, skydive or anything else of the sort. No to all, by the way. My only addiction to note is ice cream, and I closely monitor that particular monkey on my back. At the close of my questioning, I will receive confirmation that all of my information has been documented. They’ll wish me well and tell me they’ll see me at my appointment. Great! I love saving time. How efficient we are in this modern age! age!
Paper
Nonetheless, almost without fail, when I walk into my appointment and check in, someone will hand me a clipboard and a pen as if we have time-traveled back to 1992. When I protest, “Oh no, no, no, I will not be needing this today. I have completed my homework, I’m good to go,” I will generally be met with a smile and a shrug and the insistence that I fill out all the same information on the paper forms all over again.
Why is this happening? I am not trying to be difficult, but why am I doing more work only to have to provide it all over again? Why are we COLLECTING all that information I confirmed or provided in “The Portal” if we are not using all the information I confirmed or provided in “The Portal”? To be clear, I am NOT anti-paperwork. I am anti-redundancy.
I’ve reached the age where I care less about how I look in photographs and more about how I look on CAT scans, MRIs and ultrasounds. My A1C is the test I really need to pass. Whatever gets me there is the way to go. I am a team player, and I’m not one to cause trouble, so I will provide all the information (twice!) and count my blessings for medical care.
Still, I remain curious. Who runs “The Portal”? Where does the information go if not to the doctor’s office, so we don’t need the pen and paper? Are robots amassing our medical history for some reason? Or, more likely, is it like the robots are just giving us busy work at this point?
