Questions & Answers

What will JHVC Online do for me?

  • Quick, easy, and effective communication with the JHVC
  • No more phone calls, voice mails, and "phone tag" for routine care management and non-urgent needs
  • Secured Communications (Required for HIPAA COMPLIANCE)
  • Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Communicate to us at your convenience. We will reply within 12 business hours (approximately 1 business day). (seeWebVisit)
  • JHVC Online documents communications between you and your physician, which you can access through JHVC Online (unlike paper records). This facilitates consistent, clear communication as a part of effective vasculitis treatment.
  • JHVC Online automates prescription management. Upon leaving clinic, we will submit any new prescriptions electronically to your pharmacy so they will be ready for pick-up.
    • No more misplaced prescriptions
    • No more waiting between drop-off and pick-up
    • One-click refill requests that fax or electronically feed directly to the pharmacy of your choice
    • One-click renewal requests that are directly routed to the JHVC staff for review and renewal.
    • Full online history of all prescriptions given by your JHVC staff you've received and filled
    • Automated checking for potentially adverse drug interactions before your prescription is filled.

Do I have to pay for JHVC Online?

  • Registration and communications with Patient Care Coordinators are free.
  • Prescription refills are free.
  • Appointment scheduling and management is free
  • Other routine office communications are free
  • Consultation with your physician or a "Visit With Your Doctor"
    (WebVisit)is optional for patients to use and has a $25 fee for service. If you prefer to not use this service, please use the online free scheduling to request a clinic appointment.

Must I register to use the JHVC Online?

Yes. In order to provide secured access and to identify you to the system, a User ID and Password are required.

Can I access JHVC Online from any computer?

Yes. JHVC Online is available from any computer anywhere that has internet access. It never places information on the computer you are using, so your health information is safely stored within JHVC Online and cannot be left behind or accessed by another person once you've logged out.

Who gets my messages?

JHVC Online is a system for the whole clinic, even though you identify yourself as a patient of a specific doctor. The person who you'd normally contact will receive the message. The system is "smart programmed" by to know what to do based on what you are asking to have done. Your provider is the key to know who needs to receive the request and how we can best serve you.

Why do I need an email account?

JHVC Online provides automated announcements when new information is posted. This permits the system to perform response checking for you, and prevents the need to login repeatedly to look for messages. When a new message is posted to JHVC Online, it will send an email to your "public" email informing you to visit the secured environment of JHVC Online. This is how it is HIPAA compliant and keeps your information safe.

Why don't we use regular email?

Most email is not secured to the level approved by HIPAA, which does not permit email in an "non-secured" environment. In other words, HIPAA forbids it.

How does JHVC Online keep my information safe?

HIPAA requires patients and physicians to communicate in a "closed, secured internet" environment to protect all health information. If you think of JHVC Online as a home for your health communications with us, your information never leaves the house. Both you, as the patient, and we, as care providers, make "house calls" to your online space to see what you need to tell us or for you to see our response. Anything typed, attached or read in your "home" stays in JHVC Online and does not leave. This provides the "closed, safe environment" required by HIPAA that general email, IM, or other online communications do not.

What makes JHVC Online HIPAA-Compliant?

HIPAA requires that patient communications (spoken or written) be kept private and secure. JHVC Online provides a secure space just for you or the person you help with vasculitis care.

When you register and create a User ID and Password for JHVC Online, you create a "key" to your patient information. This "key" unlocks private, secured space on JHVC Online that belongs to you alone. When you open messages from the JHVC the information does not copy the message to the computer you use to view the information. This means you can go to JHVC Online from any computer with web-access (such as libraries, other family member's home computers, work computers, and so on) and know your health information will not be copied and later viewable from those computers. It is only visible through JHVC Online, which acts like a window into your secured, medical information home. Your private information never leaves the secured messaging environment, which is an important part of what makes JHVC Online HIPAA-compliant.

When to use JHVC Online? When do I use JHVC Online?

You may use JHVC Online for most non-urgent patient communications to the JHVC.

Examples:

  • You realize on Friday that you will be away on a trip at the time of your next JHVC appointment. Use the appointment cancellation option to notify us you'll not be in on Tuesday and provide various dates and times in the future when you'd be available to reschedule (also see webVisits). (Please give us 48 hours notice on cancellations).
  • While parsing out your medications for the week, you notice you will run out of a medication mid-week. Use JHVC Online to send the refill request to your pharmacy. If no refills exist, the system will automatically route the request to JHVC staff and we'll issue the refill request.

When should I contact the JHVC by phone? (What constitutes URGENT)?

If you feel you'd be unable to wait for an appointment without concern of compromising your health and care, do not contact us through JHVC Online. Call the Vasculitis Center at 410-550-6825. If you receive our message or it is outside of clinic hours, please listen to the message and call then number provided to reach the rheumatologist on call.

JHVC Online is not for emergency situations.

Can my other physicians access my JHVC Online records?

The JHVC can provide temporary access to your local physicians who assist in your healthcare, speeding up communication between all your care providers.

Who can use JHVC Online? Can I use JHVC Online to help care for my parent, child or friend?

Absolutely! Create an account for yourself and listed the "related" person as a dependent to your account. It will build a link between you and the person whose care you manage. You can be the "web-enabler" for that person to take advantage of the services provided by JHVC Online. Any web communications, schedule requests, or webVisit will have a notation that you are the person contacting the office for the other person, such as "Jane Doe requests (refill/appointment change/message) for Mrs. Sally Smith (patient)"

I am not a patient of the JHVC, but have questions. Can I use JHVC Online to ask my questions?

Currently JHVC Online is for JHVC patients only, with permissions access to by the patient for family and designated friends.

If I do not live in the US, do the HIPAA requirements apply to me?

Yes. All patients, regardless of nationality, are extended the protections of HIPAA by medical establishments. Medical providers are required to follow HIPAA guidelines, regulations and laws for all patients."Visit Your Doctor Online" withWebVisit

Why does aWebVisit have a fee?

TheWebVisitfor vasculitis is designed to be an alternative, effective way to have a clinic visit within 12 hours business hours of communicating your need without having to schedule an appointment. A WebVisit eliminates the wait for the appointment date for current patients. It prevents taking time off work or out of a busy day, coming into Johns Hopkins Bayview, parking, gas, travel, and the registration and wait time in clinic to consult with your Vasculitis specialist. The JHVC will answer to your clinical questions within 12 business hours or approximately 1 business day (weekends are excluded from "business days").

A nominal fee of $25 for aWebVisitexists for the same reason standard fees exist for office visits: it is a request to your physician to provide detailed care, guidance, and treatment instruction just like an office visit, except it is done through a web messaging system. The WebVisitis designed to ask the right questions of patients so it can provide the information to the physicians, and the doctor can provide the correct care response to the patient quickly and efficiently.

Research in patient care has shown alternative, detailed online visits cost the patient less and are far more effective in seeing to a patient's immediate care needs than waiting for scheduled clinic visits. Many times, when adding in co-pay plus all non-insurance costs, the nominal cost of the online visit pays for itself.

How does the JHVC use theWebVisitto help patients?

Patients with vasculitis who understand how their disease manifests know when they might be having problems. After a flare, standard clinic care has follow up visits between weekly, monthly, to several months out. If you feel your vasculitis is under control, a webVisit in place of a physical clinic visit can be an efficient and effective means of having your follow-up appointment without the "down time", possibly flight time and expense of coming to Clinic.

Why not just call in, like before?

Primarily, HIPAA requires documentation of care decisions, but most importantly, it is about providing better care.

In the past, voicemail's and phone calls to your physician would leave out important information required to make good clinical decisions. To get an answer on "what to do?" would require call backs, messages, "phone tag", as time passed. With vasculitis, time can be very important. The Vasculitis webVisit is designed by our physicians to gather the appropriate clinical information so they can make care decisions for you within 12 business hours. They can get back to you with instructions during times when phone calls are not appropriate, have prescriptions sent directly to you pharmacy for pick-up, or call you, when appropriate, to discuss next steps in your care .

What can I ask or do through a1?

A Vasculitis webVisit is found under "Visit Your Doctor Online under Chronic Care. It is a place to ask any question of your physician outside of a clinic visit.

From questioning if you are flaring to questions about outside physician's labs or vaccines they'd like to give you, your vasculitis specialist can respond back quickly, without "phone tag", within 12 business hours so you can know what to do.

As noted in the Why can't I just call in, like before?, a webVisit has been designed by our physicians. The questions asked if you think you are having a flare are specific information necessary to make decisions about your care. Often, this information is forgotten or left out of voicemail messages and delays your physician's ability to respond to your care needs. By doing a webVisit and answering the questions provided, we'll have the core information make good clinical decisions about your care and next steps in your treatment.

All information contained within the Johns Hopkins Vasculitis Center website is intended for educational purposes only. Visitors are encouraged to consult other sources and confirm the information contained within this site. Consumers should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they may have read on this website.