HHS wants you and your peers to give your patients more access to theirmedical records electronically as a way to improve care as part of an industry-wide push to give responsibility to the patient’s role in their health care, announced Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at HHS’ first-ever Consumer Health IT Summit on Sept. 12 in Washington.
When patients keep track of their health records it makes it easier for doctors to do their job, said U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, M.D., whose formerly paper records-based Alabama practice, Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic,endured several hurricanes, including Katrina, and a fire.
“If my patients had their [personal health record] information such as allergy and medication lists, it would have been a lot easier to treat them and recover data,” she said.
Patients know what medications they are on, how many specialists they are seeing and can coordinate medications better than the doctors, Benjamin said, and it’s the physician’s job to let patients know that it is OK to ask for their medical records and encourage them to ask.
The practice has since adopted an electronic health records (EHR) system.
HHS named three ways providers can take advantage of their EHRs and give patients more access to their records:
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Online patient portal – allows secure communication between doctor and patient for scheduling appointments, refilling prescriptions and viewing test results.
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Blue Button – a health reform initiative that enables patients to download their personal health records at the click of a button. Dossia, NoMoreClipboard.com, Aetna, RelayHealth, McKesson, UnitedHealth and Kaiser have all implemented Blue Button.
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Health email – an encrypted e-mail from Microsoft HealthVault, which allows providers to send messages to patients based on HHS security measures.
For more information on new HHS health care technology initiatives visit www.HealthIT.gov.