Will UnitedHealth ’ s New Personal Health Record Make An Impact?

Though the idea of a personal health record was a hot thing for a while, it didn’t become the fixture of the healthcare market that pundits had predicted. In fact, as many readers will recall, even deep pockets like Google and Microsoft couldn’t get their users to sign on to their PHRs en masse. One of the main reasons the PHR model didn’t take is that people simply didn’t want to use them. In fact, at least at the time, the PHR was almost entirely a solution in search of a problem. After all, if a health data power user and patient advocate like myself didn’t want one, what hope did PHR backers have of interesting your average Joe Blow in aggregating their health data online? Over time, however, the personal health data landscape has changed, with patient records becoming a bit more portable. While consumers still aren’t beating down the doors to get their own PHR, those who are interested in pulling together their medical records electronically have better access to their history. Not only that, wearables makers like Apple and Fitbit are sweetening the pot, primarily by helping people pull self-generated data into their health record. Arguably, patient-generated data may not be as valuable as traditional records just yet, but consumers are likely to find it more interesting than the jargon-laden text found in provider records. Given recent developments like these, I wasn’t entirely surprised to learn that UnitedHealth Group is picking up the PHR torch. Accordi...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Connected Health Digital Health EHR EHR Benefits Electronic Health Record Electronic Medical Record EMR Fitness Trackers Health Care Healthcare HealthCare IT Patient Portal Payers PHR Smart Watch Wearables Apple Dave Wich Source Type: blogs