What is a Personal Health Record

...and why would you want one?

 

A “personal health record” (PHR) is: 

"An electronic application through which individuals can access, manage and share their health information, and that of others for whom they are authorized, in a private, secure, and confidential environment."

The Personal Health Working Group Final Report
July 1, 2003

Over the last several years, St. Joseph Hospital / PeaceHealth Whatcom Region has pioneered developing a personal health record (PHR), the Shared Care Plan for citizens of Whatcom County to become more active participants in their health care. Persons experiencing a chronic condition, or those who have relatives for whose medical conditions they are entrusted, may derive special benefit from having a PHR.  As of August 2009, nearly 3,000 citizens have active Shared Care Plans in Whatcom County.

Learn more about what a PHR like the Shared Care Plan could do for you, and what you need to think about in selecting one…

Like the Shared Care Plan, about 70 percent of all PHR users are patients who use a PHR sponsored by their health care provider, but this is changing.

 

The Health Record Bank

...is there an account in your future?

Health record banks address concerns of a PHR that is bound to a particular healthcare provider. Similar to a traditional bank, a health record bank, can serve as a repository for storing and maintaining a patient’s lifetime health and medical records. The health record bank will store copies of records from multiple sources and ensure that the individual always has complete control over who accesses that copy of their information.  Patients can execute transactions -- importing, exporting, storing, and retrieving their health information regardless of where they may have received health care.

The Critical Junctures Institute and the St. Joseph Hospital Foundation are one of three Consumer Managed Health Record Bank pilot projects initiated in winter 2008 by the Washington State Health Care Authority.

Health Record Banks like the ones in Washington State use Web-based tools available from both Microsoft HealthVault  and Google Health to provide patients an opportunity to securely store and integrate many different types of personal health information in one location. These could include claims data from insurors, clinical data from a hospital stay or physician visit, medication data, lab data, and biometric data such as blood pressure, blood glucose, and other readings.

Look for the Shared Care Plan as an application on HealthVault in Fall 2009.

Track emerging trends in health record banking at the Health Record Banking Alliance.