Personal Health Record
Personal Health Record (PHR) is a consolidated medical record of an individual containing medical history and personal health information. PHR is generally stored in electronic format for the ease of use and universal availability; while paper based PHR is another low cost but less popular option. Electronic health records are gaining momentum among general public as more and more people are realizing the importance of keeping medical records in one place.
Keeping your health records one place is very important for several reasons. Your health records are spread out among different healthcare facilities, providers and some information such as your diet habits, hereditary illness will be available with you. When you visit a new healthcare provider or emergency facilities, you will not have access to your medical history unless you have your health information in one central place, available all the time. PHR will keep all your health information in place, so that you and your healthcare provider will have the necessary knowledge before making major health related decisions. You will also be able to refer to your previous medication instructions, allergies, vaccinations, prescriptions etc. and save time and money. Some advanced electronic systems will help you keep your insurance claims, doctor’s appointments all in one place.
A record of your health information such as allergies, past medical procedures, prescriptions is already kept at your healthcare provider facilities. This is called medical health record and under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) healthcare providers are mandated to keep such records private and protected. Law also states that the patient will have access to all such medical records and can request for a copy of such record any time. However, your personal health record does not have any legal bindings, so it is your responsibility to keep the information secure, readily available and protected from data loss and theft. It is important to choose an electronic system that will meet your criteria.
There are several PHR systems available – some are free, and others charge a fee. Some are secure, sophisticated and easy to use and some are not. On this website, we help you choose an electronic system. We also provide the reviews of major providers so you can make an educated choice, use the system of your choice, and hopefully come back here to rate the system and help others make a right choice. Refer to AHIMA’s guide to help you choose a PHR.
Here is a list of top Personal Health Record providers.
- Google Health by Google – Free online PHR tool. One of the most popular tools. Supports many apps
- Microsoft HealthVault and My Health Info – Free tool from Microsoft. Supports more apps than any other PHR platform.
- Web MD PHR – WebMD is well known for its vast Medical information online. It is a sophisticated tool that provides proactive monitoring and regular health advice in addition to basic services.
- 911 Medical ID – Very small USB device based system that stores your personal health informatin which you can carry everywhere.
- Patient Ally – FREE, internet-based, Personal Health Record management system that enables you to manage your medical records and communicate with your healthcare providers. Schedule appointments, order prescription refills, and maintain your health records.
- icePHR – Let’s you keep health information securely online and in your wallet so that medical professionals can easily access it. Integrated with MS Healthvault and costs $9.95 per year per family.
- Patient Fusion by Practice Fusion
- Koozala – Koozala is an online, 100% secure tool that keeps an accurate, up-to-date family medical history ready when you need it. Koozala saves you the trouble of remembering your entire medical history each time you visit a new doctor or specialist.
- GE’s Life Sensor
- HealthTrio
- NoMoreClipBoard.com
- Passport MD
- LifeOnKey
- FollowMe
- MiVia
- Patient Gateway
PHR Phone Apps
My Health – It’s a portable, electronic gateway to the vital information you need to know about your own health – or the health of someone you take care of.
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi there,
I’d like to suggest you add 911 Medical ID to your PHR review list. This product has the benefit of not only ease of use, but also portability. It’s the world’s smallest USB medical information storage device, and can easily fit into the credit card section of your wallet.
When you plug 911 Medical ID into your computer, it launches software that walks you through entering all of your health information. Once the information is saved, it give you the option of automatically creating a HIPPA-compliant web site for you. This not only backs up your information, but allows you the flexibility of accessing the health data over the Internet. There is also plenty of room in a password-protected section of the card to upload health documents such as a living will.
You can learn more about the product in this release: http://bit.ly/8TjeZx, or at http://www.911medicalid.com
Please contact me if you have any questions!
Steve Mullen
EndGame PR for MEMI Tech, LLC
steve *at* endgamepr *dot* com
You may want to review an iphone app “My Health”. My Health is a portable, electronic gateway to the vital information you need to know about your own health – or the health of someone you take care of.
I would like to suggest adding Koozala. Just one more option for PHRs
Koozala = google health…not a new idea
Modern technology has left the older generation behind – those less likely to use an online PHR – and they are the people who need the PHRs the most. I recommend you add The Savvy Patient’s Toolkit at http://www.savvypatienttoolkit.com to your sight for people who want a system that enables a paper PHR and/or one securely kept on their own computer. It can be loaded on a CD or USB as well for portability.
The Savvy Patient Health Record System is more than a PHR. It teaches people how to USE their medical information and how to help doctors help them, whether they are the patient or a caregiver.. It teaches people how to be the leaders & coordinators of their healthcare team and a partner with each member of the team for better care, outcomes and how to prevent errors. The forms enable people to learn about their medical conditions as they fill them out and much more…
What is the retention of customers that sign up for these services? What percentage of their physicians records ever get to the PHR system? Do they try it and then not use it? In other words what is the real acceptance of the system for the average subscriber or user?
You may want to add Doclopedia.com to your list of PHR reviews. Doclopedia.com is an online healthcare organizer and marketplace. It offers a free PHR and an HSA tracker to track medical expenses for the reporting required by the IRS if you have a health savings account. The marketplace is a resource that cash paying patients use to price medical services, imaging studies and labs. The marketplace is currently enabled for Arizona only.
Visit the website for more information http://www.doclopedia.com, or feel free to email me with questions!
And take all the attributes above, plus personal flash drive capability, id bracelets and you have Medvelope, the full spectrum innovation from Medvelope Alert Systems, LLC.
The first PHR on the market and the easiest most reliable to use. Please add http://www.my-phi.com to your list of PHR’s. Their customer service provided by working Americans is the best and their product is replaced free if you lose yours. I carry the my-PHI carry card with me everywhere and all 5 (five) of my Doctors accept it. I don’t know if and when an emargency will happen but i’m prepared for the first responder with myPHI card when it does!!
As we’ve seen in private health care dominated countries such as the US, commercial viability fails… I think on the basic value proposition to most citizens. This is exacerbated in countries with public health care systems such as Canada, the commercial viability of PHRs is strained if there is expectation that patients will pay for access. This is too much of a foreign concept in these countries.
I would like to suggest adding MedeFile (www.medefile.com), a comprehensive web-based, full-featured personal health record management solution.
http://www.phrst.org will give you the option of creating an ANONYMOUS PHR account. No other PHR website, no matter how popular, has been able to do that yet. Our pending patent account management is bring in a revolution in PHR market.
In this ever growing list of PHR Oriented websites, the one thing to note is that it has become a lot more easier to maintain your health records online than say about 5 years ago. In any case I would like to suggest another PHR site to lookout for http://www.ehealth24×7.com
Powered by the expertise of Maestros mediline Systems Ltd India, this PHR site differentiates itself by not only allowing the user to store his or her records online but also provides comprehensive health risk analysis and a way to sync records from the users mobile
but also provides an integrated solution for pathalogical labs.
Allthough still in the beta stage, it is a product to lookout for
Consumer health advisors is the best application I have seen. We have over 50 national payers that will be using this system.
Also, see MyMedicalRecords.com which is a PHR and a Physician system to digitize records while creating PHRS for the patient. The one key difference between MMR’s PHR and others (like Google Health) is the fax in/fax out and voice message in capability. You can also have up to 10 family members in a single PHR, each person’s PHR is partitioned with their own unique passwords.
Take a look at http://www.zweenahealth.com. Zweena is a full PHR but they collect the records as well. Rather than just store scanned images, Zweena will extract the structured data from the medical record. I do not think anyone else is doing this end-to-end.
I personally recommend 911 Medical ID card is the most convenient tool to store & carry your personal health records all the time with you!!