Introduction to the Current State of Personal Health Records
Hi everyone, welcome to my new blog where I will be discussing trends and opportunities surrounding Personal Health Records!
As technology has begun to revolutionize our lives, and move it's way into the healthcare industry, there have been a number of great advances. Tech has been used to integrate with medical devices, lead to better tracking of patient records, and more. One area that seems to be lagging behind however is usage and habitual integration of personal health records into the everyday lives of patients around the world. Think about it. When was the last time you were able to log into an online portal for viewing of your immunization history or results from your past appointment with your physician? Now compare that to the last time you checked your Amazon account, 401K, or electricity provider's portal? Chances are that you've utilized the latter far more than the former, and you ay have never had good access to your health history and information online in a centralized location.
There has been mixed successes surrounding the adoption and value that existing PHR's are providing to patients. One such success story is at the Kaiser Permanente Health System, which amassed an impressive adoption rate among patients of 67% back in 2012. 1 On the other end of the spectrum, a recent study completed by the Government Accountability Office found that only 30% of Medicare recipients who had access to a patient portal in 2015 actually used it. 2
I am planning on investigating this semester the issues surrounding PHR by surveying patients about their desires and interest in PHR's, and researching the largest prohibitive factors to interoperable and streamlined personal health records. Time to take healthcare and patient visibility to the 21st century!
References:
1. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/kaiser-phr-sees-4-million-sign-most-active-portal-date
2. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/883612
As technology has begun to revolutionize our lives, and move it's way into the healthcare industry, there have been a number of great advances. Tech has been used to integrate with medical devices, lead to better tracking of patient records, and more. One area that seems to be lagging behind however is usage and habitual integration of personal health records into the everyday lives of patients around the world. Think about it. When was the last time you were able to log into an online portal for viewing of your immunization history or results from your past appointment with your physician? Now compare that to the last time you checked your Amazon account, 401K, or electricity provider's portal? Chances are that you've utilized the latter far more than the former, and you ay have never had good access to your health history and information online in a centralized location.
There has been mixed successes surrounding the adoption and value that existing PHR's are providing to patients. One such success story is at the Kaiser Permanente Health System, which amassed an impressive adoption rate among patients of 67% back in 2012. 1 On the other end of the spectrum, a recent study completed by the Government Accountability Office found that only 30% of Medicare recipients who had access to a patient portal in 2015 actually used it. 2
I am planning on investigating this semester the issues surrounding PHR by surveying patients about their desires and interest in PHR's, and researching the largest prohibitive factors to interoperable and streamlined personal health records. Time to take healthcare and patient visibility to the 21st century!
References:
1. http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/kaiser-phr-sees-4-million-sign-most-active-portal-date
2. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/883612
I commented on your topic in D2L, and posted links that I thought were useful, which I thought I did here, but don't see. Did you get them? Anyway, I still like this topic. One idea for your first proposal is to ask people who have used a web portal or who keep a personal health record for themselves (e.g., on a mobile device). With a a "screener question" like, Do you currently use a web portal for any of your doctors or clinics you visit? Do you keep a personal health record of your own on a mobile device or computer? you can pursue more detailed questions about their use. I think you'll get more out of the inquiry for people who use these applications. But maybe you have other ideas.
ReplyDeleteIf they answer yes, then you can pursue other questions.