Your physician may use an electronic health record system. With this you have access to your own patient portal. With this portal, you are not only able to provide us with your required medical information prior to your appointment, but you can complete it at your own leisure. After your appointment, you will also be able to access informational handouts about your medical diagnoses, biopsy or lab results, as well as being able to send messages to your physician’s staff. If you did not receive a username and password when you made your appointment, your particular physician has not yet started using this system and you will not be able to access its functions.
IMPORTANT –BROWSER TYPE: Firefox and Google Chrome are the preferred web browser. Windows edge, Internet Explorer and Apple’s default browser Safari are not compatible with our portal.
Once you fill out your medical history online, please send us a message letting us know that you were able to access the site and let us know if there were any problems with the process.
Access must be on a desktop or laptop computer. Smartphones (iPhone, Droid, etc.) and tablets (iPads, Surface, etc.) will not work.
The Patient Portal website URL is https://alamoent.ema.md/ (No www. before it.) Once you have read all the instructions, click the button at the bottom of this page to go directly to the patient portal site. Remember, you must be using Firefox or Chrome or the site will not work.
Your user name and temporary password was provided to you when you made your appointment. The username will be a string of numbers followed by three letters (ex. 999999abc). You will be required to change your password the first time your access the portal. The new password must have a capital letter, a lowercase letter, and a number. It must be at least 7 characters long. We do not keep track of your password. Please write your username and password in a safe place for access in the future.
Once inside, you will go through each of the sections by clicking on the tabs on the left of the screen and enter the pertinent information. It is important that you fill out each section as completely as possible. This information is not only a medical requirement for each patient, but it also allows us to know your complete medical history. How we decide to manage your medical condition is highly influenced by the details of your medical history. It allows us to treat your condition in the best way possible, but also in the safest manner possible. Failure to provide us with a complete medical history, including all of your medications and allergies, could result in us recommending a treatment that is potentially harmful or ineffective.
CONTACT INFORMATION TAB
Many data fields in this section cannot be changed. These fields are completed or edited by our office staff either when you make your appointment or when you provide us this information upon arrival to our office. This includes information like phone numbers, your date of birth, and your address. Some of the fields that cannot be changed have information that is grayed out. Others (like your email address) are blank, but nothing can be entered by you. This is normal and does not mean that the portal is not working. If there are any errors in your demographic information, let us know when you arrive for your appointment and we will make those changes for you.
INSURANCE AND PHARMACY TAB
Just like in the first section, the insurance information cannot be entered or edited. We need to know what pharmacy you use for your medicines. We prescribe electronically and must have this information in our system for it to work properly. When entering your pharmacy information, select the Surescripts Pharmacy option not the Manual Pharmacy. We cannot electronically prescribe your medicines if you choose the wrong option. If you use more than one pharmacy, including mail-in pharmacies, please select them all and indicate which is your default (preferred) pharmacy.
NEXT SECTIONS TAB
For each section: Past Medical History, ENT Surgical history, etc. use the checkbox area to select common medical conditions. You may write any details you think are important about that medical condition in the blank that shows up once you select that condition. If you do not find what you need here, select “Other” and type in the medical conditions you are being treated for. If you have nothing to select or list in a given section, select “None” for that section.
MEDICATIONS TAB
It is necessary to search for each of your medicines in the search box and select it. They cannot simply be typed in the “Other” section. Our system helps us determine drug interactions with medicines we prescribe, but each of your medications must be entered individually for this feature to work. This is for your safety. Please make sure you select the correct dosage. Also indicate how many pills you take with each dose and how many times you take it per day. It does not matter if you enter the generic or brand name for the medicine.
ALLERGIES TAB
Please search for the medicine you are allergic to and select it from the options. Please indicate the reaction you had to this medicine. You may describe this reaction in the “Other” section.
SOCIAL HISTORY TAB
Please answer at least the “Smoking Status” section, alcohol use, any drug use (if applicable), and the occupation section. If you have never smoked, choose “Never Smoker.” If you are a previous smoker, choose “Former Smoker” and indicate the start and stop dates as well as the number of packs per day. If the month and day of the start and stop dates are unknown, simply choose 01/01/year started or stopped (ex. 01/01/1968). If you do not currently use alcohol but have in the past, please check the appropriate daily quantity box and indicate the start and stop years. If you currently use or formerly used drugs of any kind, check the drug use box and indicate the start date, and if applicable, the stop date. If you currently use or used to use other tobacco products like chewing tobacco or dip, please check the “Other” box and indicate the type, frequency of use, and start and stop dates.
FAMILY HISTORY TAB
A medical condition of at least one first-degree relative (mother, father, brother, sister, son, or daughter) must be listed. Husband or Wife do not count as they are not blood relatives. If there is no family medical history, please search for “hypertension.” There is an option for “No Family History of Hypertension.” Please select this and check the box labelled “Father.” This simply indicates that there is no family history of hypertension in your father. If you are adopted and do not know your family history, type “Adopted” in the search blank and select the option of “Family History: Not Known – Adopted.”
There is also a tab at the top of the page called “Visit Info” that allows you to review information that has been placed on your portal which pertains to your diagnoses. Informational handouts, instructions, counseling, and even pathology and lab reports will show up here.
A third tab called “Mail” allows you to send messages to your physician’s team. We will try to respond to these messages in a timely manner during business hours. However, your physician and his staff are busy seeing patients during the day, so they will be addressed once time permits. If there are any pressing matters, please call the office for assistance.
You may use the portal to update your medical history. This will keep your medical information as current as possible for us. If you have a change in your medications, develop a new medicine allergy, are diagnosed with a new medical Patient Portalproblem, or have undergone a new surgery, please make the appropriate changes in your patient portal. We will receive a notification when you update your information.
Thank you,
The Physicians of Alamo ENT Associates and Staff