Quick links:
|
 |
Introduction to Personal Health Records
You probably are already familiar with managing financial arrangements on-line. Every ATM transaction utilizes the same technology. You probably could not do without the functionality and convenience that comes with being able to carry out secure financial transactions on-line and revert to a hotch potch of varied paper systems.  Yet the majority of your health information exists in differing places and normally in paper. A physician only has a duty to keep your record for 7 or 10 years - so what happens when you get a recurrent symptom in your fifties that relates to a condition from 15 years ago, when you had a different doctor and lived in a different place?
The Health Information Revolution
Until recently, there was of lack of motivation by the medical community to encourage individuals to take control of their own medical history - for various reason. This article does not attempt to go into these details or try to apportion responsibility for the current systems. More recently, many people have found value in the net for gaining secure access to various information such as researching medical information that was previous the exclusive domain of professional medical practitioners. Many people have started to actively share in health decision - about themselves. In five years time - it will seem odd that we ever did not take responsibility for our own health information.
Decisions that you make with your health advisors depend upon the availability and accuracy of your medical record and current prognosis. You can choose to be agnostic and do nothing, or you can choose to start compiling your information in a record that will both help organize your medical record for today, and provide a building block for keeping your health information current and available for whatever and where ever you might be in 10 to 20 years.
The benefit of Portability
Access to accurate complete health information is important at any age. No one can anticipate when they might need to visit an emergency hospital department, or needing routine treatment by a different physician - such as occurred to 1000's of people after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and happens every year to people whilst they are traveling. The utility of personal health records extends beyond the benefit of mobility for people that travel, or relocate, or students going off to college.
Personal health record applications are being actively developed to enhance and build on the value of the data that is stored in your record so that one day soon your personal heath record and other electronic medical information will be able to improve on the accuracy of medical decisions that are made about your health. However, today, right now, you should be taking steps to record your own personal health record as your health diary is only as good as the extent and accuracy of the data. For people with existing complex medical conditions - the need for organization of their health record is urgent. If you are a guardian maintaining a personal health record for your child is both convenient and ensures that when the child grows up that they have a complete record to travel with them.
Types of Personal Health Records
So what are the choices of personal health records that are available and should I do it today or wait. Firstly, only you can decide if it is more important to spend your time doing something else or giving priority to creating a personal health record for yourself or a loved one. The technology and the ability to move the data to subsequent systems exists today.
Personal Health Records exist in four forms:
1.Paper-based: which is equivalent to organizing a paper file for your record. For people without access to the web or a computer, this is the only option. Data is portable in so far as you can carry the paper file with you.
2. Downloaded application: which is run on your PC and all data is stored locally on your PC. Data is not accessible from other locations unless your PC is itself accessible as a web service.
3. Application that stores your PHR on a transferable device: where by your data is held on a device such as a USB memory stick, CD or other portable data. Data can be read by connecting the storage device to a suitable PC or other reader. The data is portable provided you remember to carry it with you.
4. Web application: you access the personal health record via a browser. The same data can be access from any web-enabled device. Data is stored on a secure web-server.
The focus of the rest of this discussion is about web based applications - as it is suggested that this will be the best solution for the majority of people. One other overview of personal health records from a few years ago is provided as an external links here.
MyHealthMyRecord - Personal Health Record
MyHealthMyRecord is the free Personal Health Record developed by MyHealthMyWorld. It is a web based application and structured so that access to each record is completely controlled by you, the owner, using an approach that was developed by a collaboration between Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and MIT. MyHealthMyRecord in not yet being made freely available - if you would like more information about MyHealthMyRecord and when it will be available contact us by clicking here:
Return to top of page
Original written by G. Purdon. Last modified: 30 September 2008
|
