Posts Tagged ‘PHRs’
Will 2007 be the Year of the PHR?
January 2, 2007
Is the health care industry finally aligning itself to promote Personal Health Records in 2007. While EMRs saw a steep growth curve in 2006 and although adoption of EHRs seems slow, are PHRs of all types ready to take off? PHRs which are connected to EHRs or to claims data appear to be popping up regularly or at least provider and payer organizations and even employer groups are announcing plans to launch or purchase EHR products. And the word is getting out to the consumer community which in many cases is ready to take charge of their own medical records. What is lacking are clear recommendations on which product to choose and how to trust the security on any given product. Once these issues are addressed more actively, adoption of PHRs by consumers which increase this year. My prediction is that 2008 will then be a year when products are sorted out and winners and losers will become apparent.
Share this:
New insurance guidelines will promote portability and adoption of personal e-health records
December 15, 2006
This article from Information Week discusses the push by payors to get physicians to move off of paper-based records but also provide consumers with electronic PHRs. Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and America’s Health Insurance Plans state that they have “created a “health-plan based” personal health record model and portability
standards that will enable consumers to transfer their data when they change insurers.” Since claims information is not always standardized, the insurance companies will encourage consumers to add family medical history and other pertinent information. They admit that this is not substitute for interoperable e-medical record tools. Privacy concerns are still a barrier.
Also noted in the article is the fact that the Cleveland Clinic has 70,000 patients using their MyChart PHR.
Share this:Questons Raised about Employer PHR Initiative
December 12, 2006
In iHealthbeat today, there are questions raised about the security and accuracy of integrating personal health records from different sources. The CEO of Omnimedix, said, “The personal data of the patient is only ever
centralized on the browser, so when the system turns off, it disappears.” “Patients can request that changes be made on incorrect information, but they cannot change or tamper with what is in the health record. However, patients can
choose to exclude certain medical details, such as a prescription or drunken-driving incident, from their PHR.” This raises questions about th accuracy of the data should the patient be brought to an ER and not be able to communicate, one of the key uses of a PHR. So providers want to know more about the Dossia initiative but will need to wait as the project is in its early stages.
Becauseit is largely employer driven, there may be questions about employer access to records which will need to be addressed.
Share this:Project Health Design Grants Announced
December 8, 2006
Project HealthDesign of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has announces its grants related to innovation in personal health records. The grantees are:
- University of Rochester, Personal Health Management Assistant
- Joslin Diabetes Center, Inc, Personal Health Application for Diabetes Self-Management
- University of Washington, Chronic Disease Medication Management Between Office Visits
- Vanderbilt University Medical Center, My-Medi-Health: A Vision for a Child-focused Personal Medication Management System
- University of Massachusetts Medical School, Supporting Patient and Provider Management of Chronic Pain with PDA Applications Linked to Personal Health Records
- Research Triangle Institute, ActivHealth: A PHR System for At-Risk Sedentary Adults
- Art Center College of Design, Living Profiles: Transmedia Personal Health Record Systems for Young Adults
- University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center, Assisting Older Adults with Transitions of Care
All sound interesting and great contributions to the relatively new and growing PHR field. I look forward to the results of these efforts.
Share this:Americans Positive about EHRs/PHRs – Markle Survey
December 7, 2006
In a new survey released today by the Markle Foundation, reports that the “Survey shows that consumers view personal health records as an important element in reducing medical errors and increasing quality of care.” Yet 80% were concerned about privacy and the possible use of information by marketers. 75% see a role for government in protecting their privacy. The report on the survey will be presented at the Connecting Americans to Their Health Care conference in Washington, D.C. The conference includes a keynote address by Adam Bosworth of Google.
Share this:The Dossia Initiative in PHRs
December 6, 2006
Announced today was as employer coalition to enable personal health records to be aggregated from different sources. This initiative managed by a non-profit called Omnimedix has an invitation to join on the Dossia website. The reports indicate a full release in mid-2007. Other companies are working on similar initiatives.
Will this be a first to market win or more dependent on major partnerships and ease of use? Wait and see.
Share this:eVisits to Be Covered by Some Insurors
October 9, 2006
An article from Minneapolis indicates that two insurance companies in Minnesota are planning to cover evisits. This means a $35 fee for each email to a patient. The article notes that physicians have been slow to adopt (in some cases complete avoid) email as a form of communication with patients due to lack of reimbursement. The Minnesota experience shows a slow rate of adopting (100 patients in 5 months for HealthPartners) which is similar to the gradual adoption rates of personal health records. Patients who are early adopters or those with chronic illness and significant travel time may be the initial users in this technology especially in areas where internet usage and higher bandwidth is still growing. But many parents and family caregivers are using the internet at home and work and will begin to adopt this if they get a timely response from the physician.
The article did not discuss secure email or how users may feel about privacy.
Share this:New Bill to promote Personal Health Records
September 27, 2006
HealthcareIT News reports that Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island is proposing a bill to create incentives for using PHRs. These payments would go to physicians for recruiting patients into a PHR. It would be a partnership of public and private funding encouraging contributions from third party payors and pharma. He expects interest by the private parties because of the potential for cost savings from activities like online prescription refills. Privacy and patient control standards would be set.
This is a great way to get some traction to PHRs which are of interest to consumers but where adoption lags.
Share this:American Health Information Community Consumer Empowerment Workgroup
September 18, 2006
This workgroup met in D.C. today and I was able to listen to some of the testimony and discussion online. The focus of the agenda was Personal Health Records. Particularly significant and referred to repeatedly was Paul Tang’s testimony based on Palo Alto Medical Foundation’s PAMF Online (the powerpoint in PDF format available at the link above). He noted patient information needs including custom-tailored information and physician endorsement of health information. Regarding PHRs, he indicate that the consumer wants information related to visits, secure communication with their doctors, tools for managing chronic diseases but also had fears related to privacy and security especially that information is not shared with their employer. Dr. Tang also detailed a sustaining value proposition including integrated delivery system, interoperable EHR/PHR, trust and physician adoption.
The session materials also include a Draft Visioning Matrix which is the next task of the Workgroup.
This Workgroup is worth keeping an eye on. You can sign up for email updates here.
Share this: