Medfusion makes UA debut

A common theme among healthcare providers is an increased use of the Internet for routine services and requests, a Student Health Center official said.

"There is a trend in the healthcare system toward using the Internet for more routine patient services," said David Brown, the SHC's nursing supervisor. "We actually started working on our own Internet program about a year ago."

More college campuses are using programs like Medfusion, Brown said. Doctors, primary care physicians and some specialists are starting to use Internet-based programs to help speed up their services, he said.

"After we spent a good deal of time looking into the different programs, we decided that Medfusion was the best choice," Brown said. "We're trying to help serve the students of the University as best we can."

Brown said students can use Medfusion to make appointments, request prescription refills and fill out forms required for visits to the SHC.

"The program is not meant to make immediate appointments, though," Brown said. "It isn't like sending an instant message, though. We receive requests at any time of the day or night, but we can't respond to them except during our normal business hours."

Brown also said programs like Medfusion have been found to be more successful on college campuses than out in regular doctors' offices.

"Most college students are computer and Internet-literate," Brown said. "This isn't always the case in other areas. I think that college students appreciate the time that they'll save by using programs such as this."

Brown said this most recent attempt to better serve students is aimed at cutting less necessary visits to the SHC down.

"If a student needs a refill [for a prescription], they will be contacted by us after submitting a request on Medfusion," Brown said. "Provided they saw the doctor who wrote the prescription here, we can either refill it for them, or call it in to another pharmacy."

Currently, Brown said, the program only encompasses these three services, but will be expanded over the next year.

"If the current set of features work well, we are looking at expanding the number of services offered in the future," Brown said. "We think that this is something that could really help students."

Brown also said communications made over Medfusion are secure, and students' requests and appointments would be kept private.

"Medfusion uses a secure connection from any computer connected to the Internet," Brown said. "Information sent to us is not visible to anyone else."

First time users of the program must fill out all of the paperwork online, Brown said.

"When you register online to use the program, you are required to fill out all related health history paperwork," Brown said. "We don't mean to inconvenience anyone, but once you fill it out once, but won't have to do it again."

Links to the Medfusion Web site can be found at www.shc.ua.edu, or on myBama, under the Student tab. Appointments can also be made by calling 348-2778, and all other calls can be directed to 348-6262.