Personal Health Records--Who Are the Key PHR Providers and How Are They Handling Laboratory Results?

Several significant events have driven public and industry interest in personal health records. In 2004, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. Although numerous companies had been in this market for several years, the announcement provided impetus for growth in this area. In 2007 and early 2008, computer giants Google and Microsoft announced their intentions to enter into this market, Google with Google Health and Microsoft with Microsoft HealthVault.

In March of 2008, laboratory industry leader Quest Diagnostics announced a partnership with Google Health to provide uploading of laboratory testing to Google's version of a personal health record (PHR).



The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cites six positive outcomes with the implementation of widespread personal and/or electronic health records.



1. Improved healthcare quality

2. Prevention of medical errors

3. Reduction of healthcare costs

4. Increased administrative efficiencies

5. Decreased paperwork

6. Expanded access to affordable healthcare



Although there are a number of potential barriers to widespread implementation of personal health records, three are the most significant. They are:



1. Interoperability. The various systems need to be able to interact with each other and various computer systems.



2. Privacy and Security. The systems need to provide HIPAA-like compliance, but also have security measures similar to the banking industry and in compliance with a variety of industry standards.



3. Data Modification. In order for physicians to be able to act on medical information, they will need to be confident of the veracity of the medical data. This will at least partly require that they be able to determine the sources and modifications that have occurred to the information in personal health records.



Although there are a number of companies currently in the marketplace offering personal health records, they fall into four broad categories.



1. Standalones. These companies are primarily personal health record companies, such as LifeOnKey or FollowMe. In some cases these companies also specialize or have specialty subcategories, such as MiVia, which was designed for the migrant farmworker population, or LifeOnKey's Diabetes focus or Women's Health focus.



2. Spin-Offs of Information Technology or Software Companies. Most notable in this category are Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault.



3. Healthcare Providers. Examples of this are Partners HealthCare's Patient Gateway and the Group Health Cooperative's MyGroupHealth.



4. Platform Providers. In some cases, the companies are focused less on being the patient/consumer's personal health record, than in providing the platform and/or technology for personal health records. MedCommons is an example of this. Microsoft HealthVault may also fall into this category. FollowMe also is willing to customize their product for other companies, which then provide their own branding.



There are five ways personal health record providers are generating revenue.



1. Subscriptions. Typically, standalone PHR providers charge nominal annual subscription rates ranging from about $25 to $50.



2. Advertising. Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault indicate they will generate income via advertising. It's not yet clear how Microsoft intends to do this, but Google Health has indicated that their product itself will not contain advertising, but will have search boxes that connect to the traditional Google page, which does have targeted advertising.



3. Data mining. Although often mentioned as a possible source of revenue, few companies indicate they are currently selling non-user-identified health data to researchers or pharmaceutical companies.



4. Increased Service. Healthcare providers, in general, acknowledge that their personal health record systems are just part of the service and a happy client will remain with the system. Google Health indicates they aren't in the healthcare business and part of their mission is to drive users to Google.



5. Subcontracting and licensing. MedCommons is focusing on providing their services and platform technology for other users and companies that might want to deliver personal health records. It's not clear if Microsoft HealthVault plans to enter the market in this fashion, but many industry sources suggest it's likely.



Ultimately, what is clear from looking at a cross-section of PHR providers is that there are a number of approaches to dealing with laboratory results depending on the nature of the PHR. Google Health has recently announced a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.



This is likely to be the first in a number of similar relationships with other laboratory corporations. The real question, one that remains unaddressed yet, is whether competing labs will create partnerships with Google Health and other PHRs or whether it will become an exclusive and competitive marketplace, where some PHRs will find their services locked out of the market.



Another potential question is whether or not a laboratory, independent or affiliated with a particular healthcare provider, is going to be able to provide data uploads to a myriad of different PHRs. Although largely a technical issue, it's hard to see how a laboratory needing to provide results to twenty or thirty different PHRs in addition to requesting physicians and patients, is going to make laboratory medicine more efficient or cost-effective.



PHRs Gain Momentum

In his January 20, 2004, State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. The system was to be in place by 2015. According to the White House Web site, patient participation would be voluntarily, and "these electronic health records will be designed to share information privately and securely among and between health care providers when authorized by the patient."



To achieve that goal, the following steps were taken:



1. Health Information Standards were adopted. Under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with other Federal agencies and the private sector, voluntary standards were to be identified and endorsed.



2. Health Care Information Technology Demonstration Project funding was increased to $100 million.



3. Federal agencies were encouraged to adopt Health Information Technology.



4. A sub-cabinet level position of National Health Information Technology Coordinator was created. This falls under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.



It's important to note that the Bush Administration's proposal did not break new ground. Numerous companies providing personal health records (PHR), medical health records, and electronic health records or some way of storing and delivering medical information electronically were in existence for several years prior to the Bush Administration's efforts.



The announcement of launches into the health information technology (HIT) arena by Google and Microsoft has renewed media interest in the area, and may signal a renewed velocity and vigor to the market.

About the Author:

Mark Terry is a staff writer for Washington G2 Reports and author of Lab Industry Strategic Outlook: Market Trends & Analysis 2007 and several other Washington G2 Reports publications. Learn more about Washington G2 Reports.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/personal-health-recordswho-are-the-key-phr-providers-and-how-are-they-handling-laboratory-results-512001.html

Author: Mark Terry

Benefits of Personal Health Records

Gone are the days when people used to carry their health records in unwieldy files when visiting a doctor. The advances in technology made it is possible to carry the entire documents in pocket-sized devices like CD-ROMs, pen drives and now on dedicated websites who take the responsibility of saving and updating medical data. To keep a track of our medical history and share and use it when necessary, we need to create a personal health record. Let us try to understand what personal health records can do for us and how can they make our life easy.

A personal health record is the consolidated information related to health; stored and managed by an individual. Today, personal health records are also popularly known as, personal health diary, patient health record, or personal medical records. While the concept of personal health records is not new, it has evolved from a stage when these records were stored by the medical professionals and health care providers; to a stage where each person today is keeping their health records by using various technologies such as websites, personal health software and so on. The primary purpose of personal health records is:





· To keep a track on personal health and





· To help the doctors for providing better care through the valuable health information.





Ideally, a personal health record should contain every single bit of information related to your health. The information stored in your personal health record may differ according to the software or service providers, but any personal health records will contain the crucial health information. Some of the most common parameters that a personal health record contains are as follows:





· Name of the patient, birth date, blood type





· Date of last physical tests or screenings





· Major illnesses or diseases occurred in past with dates





· List of medicines and dosages taken by you





· Allergies and chronic diseases





· History of illnesses in your family





This piece of information can be very important in case of emergencies and can save your life.





Personal health records have numerous benefits not only to the users but also to the health care systems and physicians. A detailed health record can be used by physicians to take important decisions in time of emergencies. Some of the significant benefits of personal health records are as follows:





· Empowering patients: personal health record allows the patients to access, update and verify their own medical records. With the use of personal health records, one can also set reminders for health maintenance services.





· Improves patient-doctors relationship: this is especially true when you have a family doctor or a physician to whom you frequently visits. Doctors find it easy to communicate with patients who own personal health records.





· Improves patient’s safety: As the patient keeps updating their health records, it helps them to identify missed procedures and services, drug alerts, and important test results.





· Delivers efficient care: personal health records also avoid duplicative testing and unwanted or unnecessary services.





· Cost-effective tool: patients can save huge amounts which are otherwise spent unnecessary on malpractice costs.





· Privacy: personal health records can be kept confidential by using passwords. Today, most of us want our health records to be safe and secure in our hands so that no one misuses it. Personal health records allow patients to keep their health documents safe and secured.





The list of benefits of maintaining personal health records is never-ending and personal health records are slowly and steadily becoming a basic necessity to keep ourselves and our beloved ones healthy. After all, a small initiative towards health can reap great rewards. So, step ahead and create your Personal Health Record!!!!

About the Author:

Jennifer is an expert Internet marketing professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Finance, Real Estate, Electronic Health Record, Web-Design, and many more.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/benefits-of-personal-health-records-409669.html

Author: Jennifer Salerno

Personal Health Records - Your Solution to Minimizing Health Risks

How do you feel, is not it will be nice that you have a health assistant to give you a reminder about perhaps a blood sugar level test or any other health related test that you have to undergo within a month or a year. Isn't it will be nice if there is an alert emergency record about your personal health and you do not have to remember all the records and history of your health before visiting your doctor for the second check up. This help can be at your fingertips in the form of a computerized personal health record, where you can store all health care information in one place. Now while visiting a doctor you do not have to arrange your files and prescriptions and test history just with a few keystrokes, you can electronically send information to the provider or can take a copy with you.

It is very essential for a doctor to know what medicines a patient is in taking and what other health related problems he has before doing any emergency treatment to him. You will be stunned to know that over 1.5 million of patients each year are hurt by taking the wrong medicine or dosage. And it is believed now that many errors can be avoided if a proper information is provided. But do not ever confuse a personal health record with an electronic health record which are created and controlled by hospitals and doctors for their own use.

Just imagine your close one has met with an accident and he has been carried to the hospital unconscious and unaccompanied. The nurses have to look for a patient's wallet hoping to gather some information which will tell them about the patient's medications, health conditions or at least a phone number. Many patients have contact lenses and the doctors and nurses in lack of any proper information are totally unaware of the fact and many patients ended with scratched corneas. Even some patients have to loose their life in lack of any medical records. I still remember one of my friend who has an accident, has been given blood thinners in the ER. The doctors are totally unaware of the fact that the patient is taking Vitamin K which has a terrible interaction with blood thinners and he has to loose his life only in lack of a personal health record.

According to the American Health Information Management Association, keeping a personal health record is important even when you're not in an emergency situation. Most of the times while going to a doctor do not remember to tell him about every nook and corner of our health history. Store all your detailed health records, including all the information that you will need, is it for visiting a doctor or for an emergency. Keep a track of your health from now in your computer and keep a hard copy of it in your car also for emergency. Several organizations are now offering various ways to organize and store a personal health record Remember a simple piece of paper might bring a lot of difference between life and death.

Jennifer Salerno is a veteran in Internet marketing and a wordsmith par excellence with countless articles on a wide range of subjects to his credit. Online Medical Records

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Salerno

By Jennifer Salerno

Personal Health Records Could Save Your Life In Medical Emergencies

Imagine you are on a routine business trip to a foreign country. You collapse after your dinner at a fancy sea food restaurant. On arrival to the hospital, under the current fragmented health care system, retrieving your medical record is difficult, answers to questions whether you are allergic to any seafood or your previous medication history or even your primary physician contact details are difficult to obtain. You will be treated as any other emergency arrived patient. On discharge from the hospital you will carry no more than a paper based record of your medical history.

What are the probabilities of this episode recurring? And how can you make a note that you may be allergic to certain kind of sea food? Can you carry this vital medical information with you always?

Digital Personal Health Record can answer these questions. Digital personal health records enable people to store their vital health information in an easy to use format. It could be in memory keys like USB drives or in Compact Discs.However, Memory sticks or USB drives are popular as they are easy to use and carry around.Also the data in them could be repeatedly changed.

The basic health information that you should be carrying around in these USB drives are your personal contact information, emergency contact information and health insurance contact details. Along with medical or surgical history and medication history. History of any allergy to medicines and also any other food types should be part of your emergency information kit.

These could be easily created in a word document and stored in your USB drive. You could also identify this USB drive with a sticker stating that it is your health information file. The only danger of this method is that if you lose your USB drive, all your health information along with contact details are lost.

To safeguard against this you need to purchase a commercially available USB drive with stored template for health information along with a pass word protection. These small precautions will help you to better organize your health care data and help physicians to optimize their treatment to you in case of emergency.

If individuals carry portable personal record with them always, physicians on their arrival to hospital in case of any emergencies can rapidly establish the patient's medical antecedents. On their departure from the hospital they can carry their updated medical treatment history all the time, everywhere. This will enable an individual to maintain a record of their health information in illness. Physicians can deliver better optimized care to patients who have their complete health records.

Disclaimer:

This article is for informational purpose only and is in no way intended to be a substitute for medical consultation with a qualified professional. The author encourages Internet users to be careful when using medical information. If you are unsure about your medical condition, consult a physician.

Reference:

http://www.open.medicdrive.org

Open MedicDrive is a collaborative Wiki for advancing and educating about the role of Health care Information Technology in Personal Health Record Management.

Ms.Catherine Collins has spent nearly a decade in writing about health care topics. She has published her work on health care management in several leading publications in online media.Her vision is to help people to take care of their health with aid of current technologies.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Catherine_Collins

By Catherine Collins

Benefits of Personal Health Records

By Jennifer Salerno

Gone are the days when people used to carry their health records in unwieldy files when visiting a doctor. The advances in technology made it is possible to carry the entire documents in pocket-sized devices like CD-ROMs, pen drives and now on dedicated websites who take the responsibility of saving and updating medical data. To keep a track of our medical history and share and use it when necessary, we need to create a personal health record. Let us try to understand what it is exactly and what it can do for us and how can they make our life easy.

A personal health record is the consolidated information related to health; stored and managed by an individual. Today, they are also popularly known as, personal health diary, patient health record, or personal medical records. While the concept of this type of records is not new, it has evolved from a stage when these records were stored by the medical professionals and health care providers; to a stage where each person today is keeping their health records by using various technologies such as websites, personal health software and so on. The primary purpose of these is:

• To keep a track on personal health and

• To help the doctors for providing better care through the valuable health information.

Ideally, it should contain every single bit of information related to your health. The information stored in it may differ according to the software or service providers, but any personal health records will contain the crucial health information. Some of the most common parameters that a personal health record contains are as follows:

• Name of the patient, birth date, blood type

• Date of last physical tests or screenings

• Major illnesses or diseases occurred in past with dates

• List of medicines and dosages taken by you

• Allergies and chronic diseases

• History of illnesses in your family

This piece of information can be very important in case of emergencies and can save your life.

Personal health records have numerous benefits not only to the users but also to the health care systems and physicians. A detailed health record can be used by physicians to take important decisions in time of emergencies. Some of the significant benefits of personal health records are as follows:

• Empowering patients: personal health record allows the patients to access, update and verify their own medical records. With the use of personal health records, one can also set reminders for health maintenance services.

• Improves patient-doctors relationship: this is especially true when you have a family doctor or a physician to whom you frequently visits. Doctors find it easy to communicate with patients who own personal health records.

• Improves patient's safety: As the patient keeps updating their health records, it helps them to identify missed procedures and services, drug alerts, and important test results.

• Delivers efficient care: personal health records also avoid duplicative testing and unwanted or unnecessary services.

• Cost-effective tool: patients can save huge amounts which are otherwise spent unnecessary on malpractice costs.

• Privacy: personal health records can be kept confidential by using passwords. Today, most of us want our health records to be safe and secure in our hands so that no one misuses it. It allow patients to keep their health documents safe and secured.

The list of benefits of maintaining personal health records is never-ending and they are slowly and steadily becoming a basic necessity to keep ourselves and our beloved ones healthy. After all, a small initiative towards health can reap great rewards. So, step ahead and create your Personal Health Record!

Jennifer is an expert Internet marketing professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Finance, Real Estate, Electronic Health Record, Web-Design, and many more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Salerno

Benefits of Personal Health Records

Author: Jennifer Salerno

Gone are the days when people used to carry their health records in unwieldy files when visiting a doctor. The advances in technology made it is possible to carry the entire documents in pocket-sized devices like CD-ROMs, pen drives and now on dedicated websites who take the responsibility of saving and updating medical data. To keep a track of our medical history and share and use it when necessary, we need to create a personal health record. Let us try to understand what personal health records can do for us and how can they make our life easy.





A personal health record is the consolidated information related to health; stored and managed by an individual. Today, personal health records are also popularly known as, personal health diary, patient health record, or personal medical records. While the concept of personal health records is not new, it has evolved from a stage when these records were stored by the medical professionals and health care providers; to a stage where each person today is keeping their health records by using various technologies such as websites, personal health software and so on. The primary purpose of personal health records is:





· To keep a track on personal health and





· To help the doctors for providing better care through the valuable health information.





Ideally, a personal health record should contain every single bit of information related to your health. The information stored in your personal health record may differ according to the software or service providers, but any personal health records will contain the crucial health information. Some of the most common parameters that a personal health record contains are as follows:





· Name of the patient, birth date, blood type





· Date of last physical tests or screenings





· Major illnesses or diseases occurred in past with dates





· List of medicines and dosages taken by you





· Allergies and chronic diseases





· History of illnesses in your family





This piece of information can be very important in case of emergencies and can save your life.





Personal health records have numerous benefits not only to the users but also to the health care systems and physicians. A detailed health record can be used by physicians to take important decisions in time of emergencies. Some of the significant benefits of personal health records are as follows:





· Empowering patients: personal health record allows the patients to access, update and verify their own medical records. With the use of personal health records, one can also set reminders for health maintenance services.





· Improves patient-doctors relationship: this is especially true when you have a family doctor or a physician to whom you frequently visits. Doctors find it easy to communicate with patients who own personal health records.





· Improves patient’s safety: As the patient keeps updating their health records, it helps them to identify missed procedures and services, drug alerts, and important test results.





· Delivers efficient care: personal health records also avoid duplicative testing and unwanted or unnecessary services.





· Cost-effective tool: patients can save huge amounts which are otherwise spent unnecessary on malpractice costs.





· Privacy: personal health records can be kept confidential by using passwords. Today, most of us want our health records to be safe and secure in our hands so that no one misuses it. Personal health records allow patients to keep their health documents safe and secured.





The list of benefits of maintaining personal health records is never-ending and personal health records are slowly and steadily becoming a basic necessity to keep ourselves and our beloved ones healthy. After all, a small initiative towards health can reap great rewards. So, step ahead and create your Personal Health Record!!!!

About the Author:

Jennifer is an expert Internet marketing professional with years of experience in various industries such as: Business, Finance, Real Estate, Electronic Health Record, Web-Design, and many more.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/benefits-of-personal-health-records-409669.html

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Personal Health Records--Who Are the Key PHR Providers and How Are They Handling Laboratory Results?

Author: Mark Terry

Several significant events have driven public and industry interest in personal health records. In 2004, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. Although numerous companies had been in this market for several years, the announcement provided impetus for growth in this area. In 2007 and early 2008, computer giants Google and Microsoft announced their intentions to enter into this market, Google with Google Health and Microsoft with Microsoft HealthVault.



In March of 2008, laboratory industry leader Quest Diagnostics announced a partnership with Google Health to provide uploading of laboratory testing to Google's version of a personal health record (PHR).



The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services cites six positive outcomes with the implementation of widespread personal and/or electronic health records.



1. Improved healthcare quality

2. Prevention of medical errors

3. Reduction of healthcare costs

4. Increased administrative efficiencies

5. Decreased paperwork

6. Expanded access to affordable healthcare



Although there are a number of potential barriers to widespread implementation of personal health records, three are the most significant. They are:



1. Interoperability. The various systems need to be able to interact with each other and various computer systems.



2. Privacy and Security. The systems need to provide HIPAA-like compliance, but also have security measures similar to the banking industry and in compliance with a variety of industry standards.



3. Data Modification. In order for physicians to be able to act on medical information, they will need to be confident of the veracity of the medical data. This will at least partly require that they be able to determine the sources and modifications that have occurred to the information in personal health records.



Although there are a number of companies currently in the marketplace offering personal health records, they fall into four broad categories.



1. Standalones. These companies are primarily personal health record companies, such as LifeOnKey or FollowMe. In some cases these companies also specialize or have specialty subcategories, such as MiVia, which was designed for the migrant farmworker population, or LifeOnKey's Diabetes focus or Women's Health focus.



2. Spin-Offs of Information Technology or Software Companies. Most notable in this category are Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault.



3. Healthcare Providers. Examples of this are Partners HealthCare's Patient Gateway and the Group Health Cooperative's MyGroupHealth.



4. Platform Providers. In some cases, the companies are focused less on being the patient/consumer's personal health record, than in providing the platform and/or technology for personal health records. MedCommons is an example of this. Microsoft HealthVault may also fall into this category. FollowMe also is willing to customize their product for other companies, which then provide their own branding.



There are five ways personal health record providers are generating revenue.



1. Subscriptions. Typically, standalone PHR providers charge nominal annual subscription rates ranging from about $25 to $50.



2. Advertising. Google Health and Microsoft HealthVault indicate they will generate income via advertising. It's not yet clear how Microsoft intends to do this, but Google Health has indicated that their product itself will not contain advertising, but will have search boxes that connect to the traditional Google page, which does have targeted advertising.



3. Data mining. Although often mentioned as a possible source of revenue, few companies indicate they are currently selling non-user-identified health data to researchers or pharmaceutical companies.



4. Increased Service. Healthcare providers, in general, acknowledge that their personal health record systems are just part of the service and a happy client will remain with the system. Google Health indicates they aren't in the healthcare business and part of their mission is to drive users to Google.



5. Subcontracting and licensing. MedCommons is focusing on providing their services and platform technology for other users and companies that might want to deliver personal health records. It's not clear if Microsoft HealthVault plans to enter the market in this fashion, but many industry sources suggest it's likely.



Ultimately, what is clear from looking at a cross-section of PHR providers is that there are a number of approaches to dealing with laboratory results depending on the nature of the PHR. Google Health has recently announced a partnership with Quest Diagnostics.



This is likely to be the first in a number of similar relationships with other laboratory corporations. The real question, one that remains unaddressed yet, is whether competing labs will create partnerships with Google Health and other PHRs or whether it will become an exclusive and competitive marketplace, where some PHRs will find their services locked out of the market.



Another potential question is whether or not a laboratory, independent or affiliated with a particular healthcare provider, is going to be able to provide data uploads to a myriad of different PHRs. Although largely a technical issue, it's hard to see how a laboratory needing to provide results to twenty or thirty different PHRs in addition to requesting physicians and patients, is going to make laboratory medicine more efficient or cost-effective.



PHRs Gain Momentum

In his January 20, 2004, State of the Union Address, President George W. Bush outlined a plan for the implementation of an electronic health record that could be accessed by all Americans. The system was to be in place by 2015. According to the White House Web site, patient participation would be voluntarily, and "these electronic health records will be designed to share information privately and securely among and between health care providers when authorized by the patient."



To achieve that goal, the following steps were taken:



1. Health Information Standards were adopted. Under the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services, in cooperation with other Federal agencies and the private sector, voluntary standards were to be identified and endorsed.



2. Health Care Information Technology Demonstration Project funding was increased to $100 million.



3. Federal agencies were encouraged to adopt Health Information Technology.



4. A sub-cabinet level position of National Health Information Technology Coordinator was created. This falls under the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, part of the Department of Health and Human Services.



It's important to note that the Bush Administration's proposal did not break new ground. Numerous companies providing personal health records (PHR), medical health records, and electronic health records or some way of storing and delivering medical information electronically were in existence for several years prior to the Bush Administration's efforts.



The announcement of launches into the health information technology (HIT) arena by Google and Microsoft has renewed media interest in the area, and may signal a renewed velocity and vigor to the market.

About the Author:

Mark Terry is a staff writer for Washington G2 Reports and author of Lab Industry Strategic Outlook: Market Trends & Analysis 2007 and several other Washington G2 Reports publications. Learn more about Washington G2 Reports.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/personal-health-recordswho-are-the-key-phr-providers-and-how-are-they-handling-laboratory-results-512001.html

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