Over the last 2 weeks, CMS (centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) issued the requirements for Stage 2 meaningful Ue and certification of electronic health records.
The discussion about exchange of health information among systems and health facilities, laboratories and pharmacies is stressed, but not new.
What is new and exciting is the realization and admission that for the best success, patient engagement is necessary along with ease or flexibility in applications.
According to Farzad Mostashari, the National Coordinator for Health IT, new implementation will include the opportunity for patients to view, download and transmit their medical records online. This includes the viewing of images. Other initiatives including one spearheaded by Blue Cross, strives to increase patient involvement in their health information.
There was a time, not so long ago, that Google shut down Google Health. Administrators felt that everyone would run to place their information in personal health records online. They were wrong. Price considerations were removed because the site was free. Sure, many were afraid of security issues or lack of security. But, the real problem was that there didn’t seem to be a purpose. For those that had personal health records in the initial phases, no one was viewing them! Their personal healthcare providers and physicians did not have the capacity or interest in incorporating patient records or patient input into the physician records.
Now, however, CMS may have given the incentive or push to doctors for PHRs (personal health records) to be incorporated. Patient input will play a much larger role as we move forward and will enable all of us as patients to take a more active responsibility in our own health.
More information about this may be found in “Power to the Patient: The Medical Strategist” on Amazon.com or http://www.PowertoThePatientBook.com
In this book you will learn what information to place in your PHR and what places are the best to store them in. Have you started your PHR yet?
