Thank you readers! My last two posts have been especially popular and I am hopeful that they will benefit school technology programs and the economy of Louisiana!
I'd also like to recognize those of you who are reading my posts on personal health record(s). These are also popular and there is good reason! Consumers, and caregivers, want to see improvement in their ability to manage their private health information. For example consider:
- a mother (some with full time employment) who must keep track of immunizations and doctor's visits and report these in to daycare providers or schools annually. The current process includes this mother filling out the same paper form year after year; one for each child. If the child also happens to need care for an acute condition or has a chronic illness/condition, this parent will re-write the same demographic and medical history information on the child for each provider or specialist seen. The more complicated the needs of the child, the more time spent away from work or other family members completing forms.
- an adult child (some with full time employment) who is responsible for coordinating, scheduling and transporting a frail/elderly parent's doctor visits, referrals to specialists for consultations or tests, and sometimes admission between different facilities. The current process requires the adult child complete paper forms, which includes the same demographic information and medical history, for their parent for each different provider. The more complicated the care needed, the more time the adult child spends away from work and their own family and completing forms.
Consider each of the scenarios above and possibility that if you pulled each of the different medical histories completed and compared them that they would all be accurate and complete. Then consider the likely hood that a PHR is accurate and complete, as long as it includes a step for the consumer to review and confirm that the medical history is up to date before being sent (electronically before the visit) to the provider. Reviewing and confirming takes much less time than re-writing -- unless you leave something out!
Now consider the impact of the doctor having an electronic copy of the patient's demographic information and medical history in his/her "hands" before the visit on:
- the office workflow
- the amount of time patient and their caregiver spend in the office, and
- possibly on the number of visits needed if there is a secure way for the patient/caregiver and doctor to communicate on follow-up issues.
What do you think?
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