MyMercy Connects Patients, Docs Through Computers, Smart Phones

Managing their health care is now just a click away for patients at Mercy Health System of Northwest Arkansas.

That’s thanks to MyMercy, a program introduced in mid-October that allows patients to make appointments, request prescription refills and contact doctors via personal computer or smart phone. The service, available at www.mymercy.net, is free.

“People have really jumped all over it,” Mercy senior media relations specialist Laura Keep said, adding more than 4,000 people in Northwest Arkansas had enrolled as of Dec. 1.

A total of 38 physicians currently use the system in Northwest Arkansas. It is available in Bella Vista, Bentonville, Centerton, Lowell and Rogers, a list soon to include Fort Smith and Hot Springs.

Dr. Christopher Johnson is a family practitioner in Rogers, and said MyMercy is beneficial on multiple fronts. One of the most obvious is the ability to trade e-mails rather than phone calls.

“We play a lot of phone tag and that’s really a disjointed way of communicating with folks. … This expedites patients being able to communicate with us,” Johnson said.

Johnson also said the new system has sped up the transfer of information in many cases “from days to minutes.”

That includes patient updates between appointments, lab results, electronic prescriptions, and notes between doctors.

“I can’t tell you how much this has sped the process up,” Johnson said.

Keep said less than 4 percent of hospitals nationwide offer such a degree of connectivity.