Posts Tagged ‘PHRs’
Dossia will go into use this year
March 19, 2008
The Dossia electronic health records consortium has announced that it will begin to roll out the PHR to its corporate sponsors this year. After some well-publicized struggles, it plans to publish an API for the system as a way to invite health care providers to interface with the product. Part of the plan is to allow users to compare costs and medical-outcome histories at different hospitals based on its members medical history thus reducing medical costs. It is a bold plan and in light of recent announcements from Google and Microsoft, perhaps overshadowed before it gets off the ground.
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Google Health Partnership with the Cleveland Clinic
February 22, 2008
In a joint announcement today, Google and the Cleveland Clinic have launched what is being called a pilot program with the Clinic’s MyChart PHR users to connect to Google Health. On the Official Google Blog, some of the technical aspects are noted such as the GData protocol and the AuthSub interface to create what is being called a Continuity of Care Record. On the Cleveland Clinic side, it is seen as a way to push the national dialogue on electronic medical records and support national access, consumer empowerment and 24/7 accessibility/portability. The pilot will be offered on an invitation only basis to 10,000 MyChart users, a good start. Looking forward to seeing this expand in the next few months.
he bottom line issue is will consumers trust Google to store their medical records? My guess is the there is a 50/50 split on this – those who think it is adequately secure and those who are suspicious or fearful.
Share this:Can PHRs Make You Healthier?
February 14, 2008
This intriguing question from SFGate.com explores the possibility of empowered patients who take control of their health. But it will require “eventually giving people more control and understanding of complicated data.”
Four studies are being sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Quality Research ” to compare whether patients randomly assigned to use strong PHRs fare better than their counterparts who don’t go digital.” Outcomes will include, ” improvement of chronic diseases, use of cancer screenings and immunizations, and proper medication use.”
What is needed is user-friendly PHRs in the hands of motivated patients with chronic conditions where they can monitor their symptoms and improvement and communicate with their healthcare team. Hopefully, these studies will show the effectiveness of such an approach.
Share this:MyPHR Relaunch
January 30, 2008
AHIMA is promoting their consumer outreach on PHRs through a redesign of their website, MyPHR.com. The site walks the consumer through the usefulness of PHRs through videos, what is, where to begin, etc. They are even offering requests for free presentations. It will be interesting to see how they will promote PHRs beyond the online offering and what the consumer acceptance will be.
Share this:PHRs the Topic in HIMSS Digital Office
November 30, 2007
In the lastest issue of HIMSS Digital Office there are articles quoting two Cleveland CIO/CMIOs on PHRs. Dr. Harris of the Cleveland Clinic discussing the PHR/EHR integration as a culture change for his institution and states that “As more media, consumer, and provider attention is paid to the personal health record as both a concept and a tool, it is perhaps inevitable that PHR products of various quality and usefulness will arrive in the market place.”
Holly Miller, MD, MBA, the CMIO of University Hospitals of Cleveland and chair of the HIMSS PHR committee, discusses the push toward PHRs from Pay for Performance and about the future of PHRs, states, “a portable, interoperable PHR that is owned and controlled by the patient may provide healthcare consumers with necessary tools to better manage their health and wellness throughout their lives.”
There are also excellent articles on privacy and PHRs, and discussion of some products including Microsoft’s HealthVault which is not so much a PHR as a health information integrator.
Share this:American Health Information Management Association Launches PHR Initiative
October 17, 2007
AHIMA has announced its initiative to educate the public about Personal Health Records. It will include TV and other media ads later this year and next year. Neil Versel notes that this will be an uphill battle since adoption of PHRs by the public has been slow. However, this kind of initative is just what is needed and may create a tipping point. AHIMA will be training state and local chapters on PHRs so there is potential for a small army of speakers and educators on this topic. The MyPHR website has basic information about the range of PHRs without recommending a particular one. I wish, however, that there was a bigger push for online records which are secure and carefully evaluated.
Share this:More on Health Vault
October 7, 2007
The e-Care Management blog gave a more detailed analysis of HealthVault and a comment adds to this. He tells us not to go to the HealthVault website because we will be confronted with sparse and confusing information. Partly this is because Microsoft in their FAQ says that it is not a PHR, but a ” personal health technology platform that lets you gather, store and share health information online.”
The real potential for this tool appears to be the remote monitoring or monitoring a condition through a partner’s website. There may also be potential to pull in information from other PHRs or personal health information stored in other systems. But that remains to be demonstrated. Let’s hope Microsoft begins to clarify their offering as time goes on.
Share this:Microsoft Health Vault PHR and Search
October 5, 2007
In an announcement today, Microsoft lauched Health Vault, their PHR with a catchy name. They did a few things right: coined a name that represents security, partnered with some major health care institutions and applications to add credibility and launched search at the same time. They are also promoting connection to various devices with the tools, offering device drivers. The plan is to allow data transfers from other web tools and health data from providers, according to the New York Times.
This is an interesting offering worth more exploration. I plan to set up an account soon and try out the features. Some of the search features are similar to MedStory which they acquired earlier but display the top hit article, such as, from the Mayo Clinic as well as search results and sponsored results. Try atrial fibrillation, for instance.
And by the way, they beat Google to this market.
Share this:AHIMA to launch PHR campaign
October 2, 2007
The American Health Information Management Association is unveiling a promotion of PHRs to the general public at their annual meeting starting the 8th of October. “AHIMA believes patients should be in control of their personal information and that the association is well-placed to help them develop PHRs.” according to Modern Healthcare. They find that patients with chronic conditions are particularly in need a of a PHR because of the amount of data and paper they must manage. Part of the campaign will be through their website, MyPHR.com. The site is one of the best to educate the general public but stays neutral on the best type of PHR. This is unlike the new HIMSS position statement on PHRs which has specific recommendations, however, these are not yet for the lay public.
Share this:Project Health Design Blog
September 28, 2007
I came across the blog by the Project Health Design of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation recently. Besides taking note of the Health 2.0 conference, they have interesting posts on RFID PHRS, cell phone access to PHRs and others. A post from August discusses PHR fragmentation. This is certainly a persistent obstacle to adoption. The comments are equally enlightening – the need for connectivity, not more PHRs and perhaps connectivity enabled by xml.
This blog is worth monitoring by RSS – as is the content on the Project Health Design website itself – a portal for PHR information.
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