For Patients and Visitors
Create a patient home page
Communicating with friends and family can be challenging when a patient is in the hospital, especially when the stay is prolonged. Due to HIPAA regulations, which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, there are times when our staff is unable to answer questions about the patient. theStatus.com is a patient Web site that gives patients and their families the opportunity to communicate news and updates about the patient with friends and loved ones via the Internet.
Using theStatus.com, which is provided at no cost, patients or their advocates can post the latest news, visiting hours, phone numbers and even pictures. Creating a Web page is easy and usually takes less than 20 minutes to set up. To maintain the patient’s privacy and confidentiality unauthorized access is prevented by requiring a password and/or using encryption. Visitors who have been granted access by the patient can read updates, post messages and sign a guest book. With appropriate access a patient’s page can be viewed from any computer anywhere using a Web browser.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost?
Access to theStatus.com is a free service for Memorial patients, their family and friends. Use of theStatus.com is purely voluntary. It is the patient’s choice to use the service or not.
How do I create a page?
It is very easy! When patients or their friends or families log on to www.theStatus.com, they will be taken through a set-up process. Visit theStatus.com using any browser (such as Explorer or Netscape), click on the link called Create a New Page, and follow the instructions. Please review the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy prior to setting up a page. Types of information some patients choose to post include: the patient’s name and contact information, the location of care (in this case Memorial Hospital), background information on the patient’s condition, visitation hours and e-mail address or a phone number for the patient. Some users choose to include pictures of the patient, their favorite quotations or links to other Web sites related to their condition. Please see the Terms of Service prior to using theStatus.com for a complete agreement of rules and guidelines for using theStatus.com.
What about security and privacy?
On theStatus.com patients and their families can choose from two levels of security. They can password-protect the page and/or use encryption to ensure privacy and security so that information placed on the page is not accessible to unauthorized parties.
How can a patient get their photos posted to the Web site?
- Patients can use their own digital photos and enter them following the instructions on theStatus.com.
- Patients (or their advocates) can send photos to theStatus.com, using the address and instructions on theStatus.com Web site. They will scan and post the photos.
