Helping People Understand Their Health Records

AHIMA has updated the website www.MyPHR.com and it is better than ever!  It is designed to help the average consumer understand how to develop and store their own PHR.  The revised site is designed to more effectively engage the visitor in the PHR process for improving his or her healthcare or a loved one’s healthcare.

In addition, the website also features a public service announcement by John Walsh, host of “America’s Most Wanted”.  This public service announcement is scheduled to be broadcast nationally on radio and television stations and directs individuals towards MyPHR.com.  Also on the website is a documentary produced by AHIMA with real-life stories to help healthcare consumers relate to the every-day necessity of managing their own PHRs.  AHIMA members can use these videos by logging in to the internet during presentations and playing them to their audience.

The update of the MyPHR.com website is part of the new PHR Campaign called “It’s HI Time, America!”  AHIMA is actively raising consumer awareness about their right to have their own health information and the benefits to them of managing their health care through the use of PHRs. 

Why does AHIMA see this as important?  There are many conversations about PHRs in the news, such as insurance companies developing their own PHRs, major retailers (Wal-Mart) joining with software companies to produce a PHR and the increasing information about Health Information Banks in the news.  What seems to be missing from the conversations is the consumer education component.

“Having championed this cause to overwhelming success throughout the HIM profession, our member-volunteers are expanding the field-now with and extraordinary effort-to include customers in a way that can only lead to healthier, longer happier lives with each PHR we help create”, Marsha Dolen, MBA, RHIA, co-chair of AHIMA Personal Health Records Practice Council said.

Member volunteers are helping educate consumers on using a PHR to become an active partner in their healthcare.  With this knowledge, consumers can:

• Knowledgably discuss their health with healthcare providers

• Provide information to new caregivers

• Easily access health information while traveling

• Access information when their doctor’s office is closed

• Record Progress toward specific health-related goals

• Refer to physician instructions, prescriptions, allergies, medications, insurance claims and more

• Track appointments, vaccinations, and numerous other wellness healthcare services

AHIMA members have a number of resources available to them in helping educate consumers and fellow healthcare professionals.  In the FORE Library: HIM Body of Knowledge we have many articles and practice briefs.  Some of them are:

1. Wolter, Julie. "Health Record Banking: an Emerging PHR Model." Journal of AHIMA 78, no.9 (October 2007)

2. “The PHR: Helping Consumers Create a Picture of Health.” AHIMA Advantage,11:6, 2007.

3. Rodriguez, Margarita Morales, Casper, Gail, Brennan, Patricia Flatley. "Patient-centered Design: the Potential of User-centered Design in Personal Health Records." Journal of AHIMA 78, no.4 (April 2007): 44-46.

4. Jacobs, Ellen B.. "The HIM Role in the PHR: Patient-centered Care through Patient-centered Information." Journal of AHIMA 78, no.4 (April 2007): 38.

5. "The Value of Personal Health Records: A Joint Position Statement for Consumers of Health Care." Journal of AHIMA 78, no.4 (April 2007): 22,24.

6. AHIMA Personal Health Record Practice Council. "Helping Consumers Select PHRs: Questions and Considerations for Navigating an Emerging Market." Journal of AHIMA 77, no.10 (November-December 2006): 50-56.

Another great resource for AHIMA members is the Community Education program, which trains HIM professionals to present AHIMA’s program on developing and maintaining a PHR.  The presenters are encouraged to go to community groups and offer to share the video and materials that help consumers obtain their medical records and keep their own PHR.

We have a real opportunity to be visible to the public with this material in a way that can help average consumers make a difference in their own health.  We should be the health information professional that, as always, advocates for the patients.

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