The first of two demos for the Patient Portal for New Yorkers took place in New York City this Tuesday, drawing many beyond the usual health IT crowd. The audience encompassed quite a spectrum—patient advocates, tech folk, representatives from RHIOs, small practice doctors, media, and most gratifying of all, the general public.
The patient portal, when up and running, has the potential to affect the lives of all New Yorkers, not just physicians and developers, and the diversity at the demo represented a very real interest.
Nine finalists, selected for their prototypes by way of a period of online public voting, were each allotted five minutes to present, and then five more minutes to respond to questions from the judges and audience.
Questions from the audience and panel were astute and intelligent, such as: Will the portal be available in different languages? What is the best way to simply display medications for someone who has many? How can we clearly display the multiple medical encounters for a patient who is chronically ill? How do you best provide patient education? How do you translate doctor-speak to patient-speak?
The panel of judges included Philippe Chambon, Wen Dombrowski, Sarah Krug, Rebecca Mitchell Coelius, Amanda Parsons, Michele Reed, and Martha Wofford.
The audience engagement, the high level of discussion, and the enthusiasm in the room made for an atmosphere that felt full of promise, like something great was in the process of being built. And it seemed like everyone’s voice was finally being heard.
The second demo is currently underway in Buffalo, NY.