MedStori was developed by Bharat J. Shah, M.D., a practicing psychiatrist in Akron, Ohio. He is affiliated with the Akron General Medical Center affiliated with the Cleveland Clinic. In his long practice of psychiatry, Dr. Shah realized that many history questions are asked repeatedly by the physicians or psychologists. He also realized that many of these questions can be easily and better answered through a simple automated application. He also thought that patients were more likely to answer questions more honestly and appropriately on a computer app than in a face-to- face meeting with a clinician. Questions in the app are determined through an algorithm based on the answers to prior questions. Therefore the report generated becomes more comprehensive and accurate. Many clinicians who have reviewed this app, have mentioned that many times they forget to ask the questions which are always asked in the app. This app is not designed to diagnose the patient or to arrive at any particular conclusion. It is simply a tool for patients to provide information to the clinician either from their own home through a secured connection or in the physician’s office using an iPad or PC. The app also has provisions for customizations and edits. At each appropriate location in history, a clinician has the ability to add more narratives, explanations, and other information.

Dr. Shah has always been of the opinion that patients will use a computer app only if it is extremely simple. For this reason, all questions in Medstori are answered by simple one finger touch and no detailed writing is necessary. In fact, there is no place to write any notes.

Also, very sensitive questions that are usually asked by the physician during a face-to- face interaction are not asked of patients in the app. For example, any questions related to suicide, homicide, or violence are to be asked only during the patient’s presence in the physician’s office. Also, any questions related to past trauma or abuse are asked only during the meeting with the physician or clinician.

After the history questions are answered by the patient, the report is instantly available to the doctor/psychologist. When the patient sees the doctor or the psychologist in his/her office, the app opens up for the mental status examination. Medstori is fully HIPAA compliant and all PHI data is fully encrypted at rest and in transmission.

Mental status examination is very self-explanatory and there are multiple options that the medical provider can edit. There are several boxes where the doctor or psychologist can freely type whatever he or she wants to enter in addition to the information that is already in the record. The doctor or psychologist can then type his or her diagnosis, treatment plan, type of psychotherapy, type of medications, hospitalization, referral to partial hospitalization, alcohol and drug rehabilitation program, etc. These options can all be conveniently selected through a menu in the app.

Over the course of using Medstori with several hundreds of patients in past several months, Dr. Shah has made some definitive findings:

• Medstori is very easy to use for both the patient and the doctor.
• Medstori is very comprehensive
• Medstori saves a significant amount of time for the doctor.
• Medstori provides complete documentation for the medical provider.

Many physicians or psychologists spend significant amount of time in documenting initial psychiatric evaluation. They type or dictate or use smart phrases or templates. Patients often complain that the doctors looks mostly at the computer screen and do not look at them during their interaction. While Medstori is saves much time in documentation, physicians can spend more time with patients engaging them in psychiatric evaluation and discussing treatment plans.

Once you begin using MedStori for psychiatric evaluation, you will never go back to using any other means of documenting psychiatric evaluation.