Dallas-Plano-Arlington, Texas - Key-Whitman Eye Center, a leading ophthalmology practice for Lasik in Dallas and North Texas providing a full range of progressive ophthalmic services, today announced a successful first year with Medflow’s Vision Connect patient portal, Key-Whitman’s strategic choice for patient communication technology.

According to Dan Chambers, practice administrator, “We chose Vision Connect because it was created specifically for ophthalmology. There was no wasted time, effort or expense reconfiguring a generic package. Chambers continued, “The Vision Connect developers and trainers have worked in ophthalmology and understand our testing, coding and patient flow. The trainers were a big help to our staff.”

“Patients love the portal,” commented Susan Thomas, systems administrator. “They use it to access information they need on their schedule, not ours.” She noted, “We’ve had online registrations come in at 2:00 in the morning. Recently, a patient needed immediate access to his records to process his retirement insurance application. He found what he needed on the portal right away, confidentially and securely, and it didn’t take staff time to provide timely service.”

Thomas identified Vision Connect meaningful use features for patient communication (such as providing clinic summaries, patient education, recalls, copies of the chart, etc.) as having helped Key-Whitman successfully attest to meaningful use for many of their doctors over multiple locations and receive sizable incentive payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Thomas concluded by explaining that patients are encouraged to use the secure online portal as it represents a cost savings in staff time while also being a benefit to patients. “Our call center directs patients to our web site for easy registration, and we list portal features on the back of appointment cards. We often hear from our patients via secure messaging. They are happy with the portal and so are we.”

About Key-Whitman Eye Center: Key-Whitman Eye Center has been recognized as a leading eye-care facility for nearly 50 years, providing LASIK eye laser surgery for vision correction and general services for eye care in Dallas. Treatment for cataracts, glaucoma, and corneal disease as well as routine eye care in addition to vision correction is offered by the eye center. Dr. Whitman, a recipient of the American Medical Association Physician's Recognition Award, is the immediate past president of the American College of Eye Surgeons, and was recognized by D Magazine's "Best Doctors" peer review as one of Dallas's best for the last 11 years.