Your personal health information
is a valuable resource to you, your family, and the
doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals
who provide your treatment and care. But did you
know that, in most cases, a complete record of all
of your personal health information cannot be found
in any single location or consistent format? The
various elements of any one person's health
information are likely scattered across several
healthcare providers, possibly in different cities,
states, or even countries and are kept in various
combinations of paper-based and electronic
record-keeping formats.
Each one of your
healthcare providers (family practitioner,
allergist, OB-GYN, etc.) compiles a separate medical
record on you. These multiple medical records can
lead to an incomplete story about your health.
Keeping your own PHR allows you to provide doctors
with valuable information that can help improve the
quality of care you receive. A PHR can help reduce
or eliminate duplicate tests and allow you to
receive faster, safer treatment and care in an
emergency. And the PHR empowers you, the patient.
Overall, it gives you more intimate knowledge of
your health information allowing you to play a more
active role in your preventive care and care
management.
top
Many of you know how important it is
to keep and maintain a PHR, but do you carry it with
you when you're hundreds—or even thousands—of miles
away from home? In a medical emergency, time is of
the essence. Transferring medical records across
states, oceans, and countries is not only difficult,
it's sometimes near impossible.
We encourage you to bring your PHR
with you whenever and wherever you travel. Whether
it's a family vacation, an overnight stay, a
business trip, or an international excursion, always
leave home prepared.
Please remember to be prepared with
your PHR when traveling to AHIMA's Annual
Convention. Use this opportunity to train
yourself to bring your health information along
whenever you leave home.
You've worked to create it, now
don't forget it! Set an example for others to show
how versatile and useful it can be. Please remember
to bring your PHR with you when you travel and
encourage your loved ones to do the same.
top
Are you interested
in keeping current with the personal health record
(PHR) concept? Then consider joining the PHR email
group that is being developed. Links to current
information on what is happening in the industry
will be sent to you monthly. You can follow along
from the convenience of your own computer.
If you are
interested in joining please send an email to Marsha
Dolan at
dolan@missouriwestern.edu or you can contact her
at 816-271-5949.
top
The Missouri Health Information
Management Association (MoHIMA), an affiliate of the
American Health Information Management Association
(AHIMA) offers free community-based public education
seminars as part of our mission to provide effective
management of personal health information needed to
deliver quality healthcare to the public.
The community-based
presentation is a free program delivered to your
group or organization that provides valuable
information to help you better manage your personal
health information. Topics include how to access
your medical records, your privacy rights, and
starting a personal health record (PHR). This
multimedia presentation is delivered by a
credentialed Health Information Management (HIM)
professional. Audience members are given an
opportunity to ask questions along the way and free
informational packets are provided to each
participant.
AHIMA does not make,
sell, or endorse any PHR products. The goal of this
campaign is to provide individuals with the
information they need to better manage their
personal health information and to encourage them to
maintain a PHR in order to improve the quality of
care they receive.
top
We provide the speaker,
audience handouts, and materials to promote the
event at no cost to you. In return we ask that you
provide the audience, a suitable date, time, and
location for the presentation, and any technical or
logistical support for the presentation (ie –
laptop, projector, audio speakers, microphone,
refreshments for attendees).
top
As part of this public
education campaign, AHIMA has also created a free
public web site,
www.myphr.com, where you can find a wide range
of helpful information and resources including:
-
Information
regarding your health information rights
-
Privacy
rights and common privacy myths
-
How to
access your records
-
Information
for caregivers
-
Step-by-step
guide for creating a PHR
-
A guided tour to
help you learn more about how your health
information is collected, where it goes, and how
it’s used.
-
An online form
to request a local health information management
professional to come out and deliver a free
public education seminar to your group or
organization.
*AHIMA does not make, sell or endorse any PHR
products. We provide this database as a public
service and encourage people to research the
different types of tools that are available and
choose the one that is right for them. Many of the
tools listed in this database are free of charge.
top
This program is provided
as a free public service by the Missouri Health
Information Management Association (MoHIMA) an
affiliate of the American Health Information
Management Association (AHIMA) and the Foundation of
Research and Education of AHIMA (Foundation).
top
|
