November 2023 will mark 20 years since the launch of My HealtheVet, VA’s patient portal. What began as a modest website has become a vital tool for Veterans and providers alike.
Lara Storke can attest to the portal’s benefits from two perspectives. As an Army Veteran, she uses My HealtheVet for her own care. And as a VA optician, My HealtheVet helps her connect with the Veterans in her care.
Using My HealtheVet as a Veteran
Storke was an early adopter of the platform. She first began using My HealtheVet in 2006 while going through cancer treatment. With countless medical appointments, she struggled to keep track of her test results. She wanted a way to look at her providers’ notes and research her prognosis. That’s where My HealtheVet came in.
“When VA first came out with a way to access records online, I was all in,” she said.
The platform took some getting used to, but she saw the benefits right away. Storke could view her records and test results from the comfort of her home thanks to the VA Blue Button feature. VA Blue Button lets My HealtheVet users view, download and print their VA health records. Veterans have downloaded more than 59 million files through VA Blue Button since the feature was first released in 2010.
“You used to have to request records and just wait. Fast-forward to now. My HealtheVet is extremely user-friendly,” she added.
Pictured above are Storke (left) with Susan Haidary (right), My HealtheVet national stakeholder.
Secure messaging helped her through the flu
Now cancer-free for 17 years, Storke continues to use My HealtheVet as a part of her routine care at VA.
Storke used My HealtheVet’s secure messaging feature when she was experiencing flu symptoms. She sent a secure message to her primary care provider detailing her symptoms and asking for an appointment so she could receive a doctor’s note to miss work.
Her VA provider quickly sent a reply confirming that she had all the typical flu symptoms and advised how to take care of herself at home. The provider attached a doctor’s note for her to print out and take into her work. The interaction saved her a trip to the clinic.
“I was so glad I didn’t have to drive to visit in person. They made it so easy for me,” she continued.
Using My HealtheVet as a VA employee
Storke has firsthand knowledge of the benefits of My HealtheVet. And she has incorporated the tool into her work as a VA optician at Portland VA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when in-person visits were limited, Secure Messaging became a vital resource for the eye center.
Storke and her colleagues created content for the eye center’s webpage that enabled Veterans to browse available glasses without an in-person appointment. The staff members used My HealtheVet to send Veterans secure messages with links to the site. “Getting the word out took some effort but I think that it has paid off,” she said.
Even after the eye center returned to business as usual, Storke said Veterans still use My HealtheVet to interact with their VA care teams. “We still get more secure messages than phone calls. Many have thanked us for making it so easy.”
To learn more and register for the patient portal, visit My HealtheVet.
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I love HealtheVet! But I have found several clinics (Zablocki
VA Hospital, Milwaukee WI) that do not use the tool. Luckily, the majority of clinics providing my care do.
Lara is awesome, and she did me a solid when she recovered my wallet and I even let me come to her house and get it back!
How do I get signed up?
Myhealthevet is great in many ways, but one problem that we have is seeing community care doctor notes and C&P exams. You still have to ask for your records to get that information.
Simplify the process. Yeah right! I haven’t seen a doctor in almost a year and haven’t had a follow up appointment yet. I’m taking several different medications and haven’t had any bloodwork done since last summer so I don’t know what this medication is doing. I constantly live in pain but they don’t care about it and I most definitely suffer from chronic fatigue. My primary care doctor is a foreign doctor, I think! Who knows nothing about what he’s talking about or what he’s doing. We have a major communication issue with one another. I’ve requested another primary care doctor but haven’t heard anything back yet and I have contacted the VA several times. My eyesight is failing and they just keep telling me to use eye drops and not recommend any specialist for me. I’m starting to understand why so many veterans just give up and take their own lives. Those doctors that are hired really and truly don’t care about veterans. At all!!! I’m constantly sick from mouth infections but I can’t even get in to see a dentist until 3-4 months out and no recommendations for the community care provider has been offered. I went to a C&P examination and it was a total disaster for me. The so called doctor lied about who she was to try and trick me which is very strange and unprofessional not to mention unethical. I wonder how many veterans have actually taken their lives because of this horrible treatment that we receive? I know it’s not a perfect system but it seems to be getting worse every time I go there.
I’ve suggested many times. The website needs to be totally redone. Lately there have been some changes, but for the worse. Please bring an outside consultant to fix this very confusing interface.
Good luck with that. The system has been down for four days!
You guysbarw such a joke. All the technology in the world doesn’t change substandard care. I.woukdnt see a VA provider if it was my last chance to live. Ducking butchers!!!!!
Yeah great if they don’t lose your info and make you jump through endless hoops just to be able to log back in again.
Not all PCs are willing to do this via email. I have had three PCs in a year. None know me or my record.
Accessing Dr’s notes should be easier. I’ve never figured out Blue Button feature . Just seems you shouldn’t have to download complete notes . Then search for the latest notes. I have 40+ years of VA Medical notes from 3 VISNS , it’s a lot of work . Would be great if I went to Orthopedic and all my Ortho notes popped up . Overall a 7 of 10 rating . I like other features of website.
My health Vet has truly been a blessing for this 85 yr old vet. Appointments, med refills, messages w/ my care team, records & urgent health questions are just a few indispensable services provided. I share a partnership w/ my team in managing my healthcare. Thank you VA!
I use my healthy vet a lot and think it is a very useful tool in maintaining my health–it is a easy way to contact my Drs and to ask questions and get answers from the conventicle of my home–it also allows me to ask for refills to my meds that I may have over looked with my primary or specialist Drs– this is one great resource in helping vets–who ever thought this up is a hero in my eyes–good job VA—thank you
I am still trying for someone to help me get me a Papillon SERVICE DOG Female or Male can you help me??? I am a 100% Disable Vietnam Combat Vet. a survivor of cancer 11 different times and I am on Dialysis for a year now and I need a little Papillon SERVICE DOG Female or Male newborn for free because I just can’t pay for one because I am on a fixed income. If you e-mail me back I will tell you all my different types of cancer I have had because of that Agent Orange I was exposed to in Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. I was with the 25Th Americal Division 198TH and 196TH Infantry and I was a Grunt and a Tunnel Rat.
Very difficult to use
What is it about MyHealth, that is so difficult to use? I use it regularly and have never had any problems with it. Let us, the audience here know what is difficult about it. And, maybe we can help you. You can also ask your Primary VA doc’s office about your issue/s and maybe they can help you with it. It really is a great tool.
It’s ok, but it don’t help you get a appointment, 90 days, old vets will be gone my than. Dr do the best they can. Sending you out is not any better, National health problem ,I’m sure doctors are working 80 plus a week.