Microsoft HealthVault

good article but long

Going back to the basics here is a really great solution to the problem of healthcare...bring the doctors to the employees so they aren't forced to visit the ER for non-threatening ailments! More companies should take this approach like Microsoft did...

Hye...great information. Just posted on my own FB page. Thanks and keep up the great work.

Disrupt what, the 15 minutes/ year that they spend with each patient? Do they use the phone, or the internet? Was that disruptive? Pleezz

check this Blog for more info regarding EMR, EHR and PHR

http://iamenabled.com/blog/index.php/digital-health/emrs-ehrs-and-phrs-current-healthcare-terms-defined

This is the thread of a discussion with EHRs and PHRs.
Who is right and what is the real answer according to you?

what is the difference between an EHR and a PHR? Seems to me the EHR is that aggregation of data from disparate systems, but owned by the providers. Patients may or may not have access to an EHR - and there are real-world examples of EHR's with and without patient access today. The article cited above (HITECH) seems to corroborate this. The PHR on the other hand is controlled by the patient and may or may not have all the same data as the EHR. Plus it is likely to have additional self-reported data and assessments.
Posted 4 days ago | Reply Privately... Read More

Barbara Hales
President at The Write Treatment, LLC
Lynne
The PHR, as you correctly point out, is controlled by the patient because....the information is actually supplied by the patient.
The 2 major players in PHR are Microsoft HealthVault and Google Health, although there are others.

The original aim of PHRs was to allow a patient to add information that would be relevant or helpful to the providing healthcare personnel in a less stressful surrounding. (as in one's home) without having to think of everything in a rush under duress.

Since its humble beginnings, PHRs have been developed as a tool of empowerment for patients.

By inserting symptoms and times of day for instance, the PHR program will supply an analytic chart to help the patient alter diet and exercises to bring about a different result, or to help the patient understand what is being experienced.

Though data in a PHR may overlap that which is found in EHRs, it is entered through the eyes of the patient and so may be limited or helpful depending on that patient.
Posted 4 days ago | Delete comment

Lynne Chartier
Product Manager at WebMD Health
Actually Barbara, I must disagree with some of your comments. Many PHR's include professionally-sourced, non user-editable clinical data. Perhaps the original aim of PHR's was as you state above, but they have evolved into repositories of data from disparate sources, clinical as well as self-reported. Patients have the right to choose what to - or not to - include in their PHR. And there is still much debate as to what obligation the PHR has to the provider community, but that debate seems to be leaning toward the PHR as the central, portable record that includes both self-reported and clincally-sourced infomation. And it is true that perhaps the most valuable function of the PHR is to provide the patient with a view of their health to include actionable items and the potential outcomes of these actions.

But I still maintain my original statemetn that many if not most EHR's are not open to patient access. They are professional-to-professional records.

From a very early point in my research on these issues the consumer/patient has played a critica role. Health care necessarily revolves and evolves around the patient. While msft and google have made impressive gains in the provider and insurer markets, both have ignored (harsh term but appropriate) the consumer patient..to this point ( I will ... Read Moreleave room for improvement here for mr.s nolan and.zeiger).
I cannot help but believe the consumer is going to be courted at some point.
A consumer embrace of the health internet will overshadow any of the preceived bumps in the road (privacy issues, cost etc).
Once people see how this will benefit them and, more importantly, their health - they will clammor for more and I believe the consumer is more apt to jump in bed with msft than with the federal government. When will the consumer push take place and when will msft tailor a consumer facing project or one that touches and concern the employer market?