A Framework for Patient-Centered Care

iHealthSpace is a patient engagement platform that allows practices, researchers, and other groups to create an integrated, customized online experience. Groups can select from existing features, including communications modules, portals into patient health records, information-sharing tools, and goal-setting applications, or can leverage iHealthSpace’s connected and secure framework to support external applications.

E-Health That Puts Patients first

As practice infrastructure evolves and visit-based care proves inadequate to meet patients’ needs, a new model of health care is emerging. Efforts to engage patients at home, between appointments, are more important than ever. Patient engagement platforms provide patients with the ability to schedule appointments, request prescriptions refills and, in a growing number of cases, communicate with their provider and view elements of their medical record.

While these e-health services offer important administrative advantages and move towards meeting national recommendations to offer patients ‘unfettered access’ to their medical record, there is an emerging movement to understand health and workflow needs from the patient perspective. Unless e-health services are designed to meet patients' specific needs, follow-up is likely to remain a frustrating experience for both patients and clinical staff.

The idea behind iHealthSpace is to optimally support the patient in the myriad tasks required to assess their current state of health, to manage problems appropriately, and to prevent future medical complications. A connected virtual space in which patients can contribute to their health care with the support of their family and friends and in concert with their care providers will serve to reduce the fragmentation imposed by organizational boundaries and put the patient front and center in this new model of care.