In an increasingly wired world, you might be shocked to learn that your doctor likely maintains your family's vital medical information on ... paper. What gives? Here we give you the lowdown on what you need to know about maintaining your family's health records online.
What is a PHR?
A personal health record, or PHR, is defined as "an electronic, universally available, lifelong resource of health information needed by individuals to make health decisions." In other words, it is information that is owned and maintained by you, not your doctor. An electronic health record, on the other hand, is a record of a patient's health information maintained by his or her health-care provider.
How can I get started?
There are a myriad of products and programs available to help track personal health information, and they come with a range of price tags. The two largest and highest-profile online PHR services were recently launched by Microsoft and Google, and both programs are free. Here are the details:
• Microsoft HealthVault: The HealthVault site allows users to enter medical information for multiple family members. Users sign in to the program through their Hotmail, MSN, Passport, or Windows Live accounts, and they get to decide what information to share and with whom to share it. Each user can upload medical records from his or her physician's office and add information like allergies, immunization records, and family history.
• Google Health: Unlike HealthVault, only one person's records can be stored per Google Health account. The user signs in through his or her Gmail account and can use the service to import records, find local doctors, and share information with providers. There are also links to other Web health services, such as companies that can convert paper medical records to electronic records.
Why should I maintain my children's health records?
Think your doctor is storing your family's health information electronically? According to Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Harvard Medical School and an unpaid member of the Google Health Advisory Council, it is estimated that 2 to 20 percent of physicians have EHRs— which could mean that they save files in Microsoft Word on a computer or that they use an advanced system from an EHR vendor. "It's a sea of paper," he says.
"I think it's very important that parents keep records on their children," says Dr. Joseph Schneider, chair of the Council on Clinical Information Technology of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Schneider says it's especially helpful to have your children's medical information on hand if you're traveling, moving, or in case of emergencies. He noted that it's beneficial to maintain your children's health information even if they're generally healthy, and it's even more important if your kids have chronic diseases like diabetes or asthma.
There's also a financial benefit to families: less time spent waiting in doctors' offices, reduced duplication of costly tests, and improved coordination of medical care, according to Jeff Donnell, vice president of NoMoreClipboard.com, a company that coordinates electronic health information.
Why aren't more doctors maintaining records electronically?
There are a variety of reasons why physicians are holding off on adopting EHRs, including an unwillingness to buy expensive records systems when most of the financial benefits go to insurance companies. Also, some doctors might be waiting for more sophisticated systems to be released. "The longer a physician can hold out, the more features you can get for your money," says Schneider, who's also the chief medical information officer at Baylor Health Care System in Dallas, Texas.
However, there is hope that things will change under the new administration, as the Obama-Biden campaign pledged to "invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records."
