How much work is it to set up a Personal Health Record (PHR)?
The work depends a lot on which PHR best meets your needs and if that service has features to automatically transfer the health information you want.
Setting up a PHR: what you should know
- PHRs are online -- you set up a username and password and you can give permission for others like a family member or your doctor to view your records or add information to them.
- Some PHRs automatically receive your doctor, hospital, lab, and pharmacy records electronically. Other PHRs require you to gather and enter information yourself.
- If the PHR isn’t electronically connected to the places where your health records are kept (like the doctor’s office or pharmacy), then you must request information from these businesses and enter the information in your PHR.
- Certain PHRs do part of the set-up job for you and you do the rest. As an example, the PHR may have an arrangement with your pharmacy and you can automatically set up all of your medication records. But, many doctors are not connected to PHR services so you may have to enter parts of your medical history that are important to you.
Find the PHR which best meets your needs
Below are three examples of different PHR features and what to look for in the PHR service to learn how easy or hard it is to set up and use it.
- I want the convenience of communicating with my doctor online and getting results, refills or other services through the internet.
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What to look for in a PHR service: is your doctor connected to a PHR service and does the service include doctor email and online services? Can you:
- Send and receive messages from my doctor about my health concerns
- Look up lab or test results
- Order prescription refills
- Make appointments and get reminders if I forget
- Have my doctor send me instructions or follow-up help after my visits
- Prepare a checklist to help me get ready for a doctor visit
- I want to use online services to help me with my self-care for a health condition or to meet a personal fitness goal.
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What to look for in a PHR service: do you have to enter each part of your health history or does the PHR automatically do that? Can you:
- Keep a record about how I take care of myself including eating habits and exercise routines
- Send information to my doctor from home through a health monitoring machine (like a blood pressure monitor)
- Track progress on vital signs like my blood sugar levels
- Connect me to others online to share ideas about dealing with my health condition
- Keep a list of the medicines I take and get alerts if two medicines shouldn’t be taken together
- I want to keep and organize my health records or those of a family member.
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What to look for in a PHR service: is the PHR service connected to the places where your medical information is kept so the records can be electronically set up? Can you:
- Have your health records from the doctor’s office, pharmacy or other services automatically setup in the PHR
- See that my family’s medical information is correct and all in one place
- Go online and instantly get any of my medical information
- Send important information to a doctor that doesn’t know my medical history
Find PHRs that are available to you.
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