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Mayo Clinic Health Manager
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Personal health record: A tool for managing your health
Will the information be kept private?
Perhaps the most common concerns about personal health records are about privacy and security. To address these concerns, reputable PHR systems follow industry best practices, such as making their privacy policies public and submitting to monitoring by independent organizations. Also, 2009 legislation directs the federal government to strengthen rules governing the security of health information held by PHR systems and related entities.
Where do I start?
As with any decision about your health, do a little research before you jump in. When you're evaluating your options, consider these questions:
- Is the system easy for me to use?
- Can I enter all the information I want to track?
- How will my information be kept private?
- Will information be added to my record from outside sources, such as insurance or doctors' offices? How and what will be added?
- Can I correct or delete information in my record?
- Can I share information with my doctor and other caregivers?
- Can I upload data from home-monitoring devices, such as a peak flow meter or blood pressure cuff?
- What will it cost? Are there any special fees?
- Will it help me manage my health by providing information and advice?
- Can I create an account for my whole family and manage information for my family members?
Putting it all together.
As important as it is to gather your health information in one spot, you won't achieve the full benefits unless you proactively use the information to manage your health. To help you to do that, Mayo Clinic has created Mayo Clinic Health Manager, which is powered by Microsoft HealthVault. "Mayo Clinic Health Manager extends the capabilities of traditional personal health records and uses your information to provide customized recommendations, so you can better manage your health and your family's," explains Sidna Tulledge-Scheitel, M.D., a primary care physician at Mayo Clinic and medical director of Mayo Clinic Global Products and Services.
Mayo Clinic Health Manager generates reminders and recommendations specific to each family member's life stage and health status. And as you enter more personal health information, Mayo Clinic Health Manager delivers more specific and customized recommendations. So, for example, Mayo Clinic Health Manager might recommend getting a pneumococcal immunization and annual influenza immunization if you have asthma.
Go ahead, take control.
Are your ready to take the next step in managing your health — and your family's? If so, drop the paper shuffle and give technology a go. Create your electronic personal health record and start seeing what it can do for you.
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- Helping consumers select PHRs: Questions and considerations for navigating an emerging market. American Health Information Management Association. http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_032260.hcsp?dDocName=bok1_032260. Accessed April 28, 2009.
- Survey of health care consumers, 2009. Deloitte Center for Health Solutions. Accessed April 28, 2009.
- Tang PC, et al. Your doctor's office or the Internet? Two paths to personal health records. New England Journal of Medicine. 2009;360:1276.
