Personal Health Record - PHR

Personal Health Record or PHR is a simple way of collecting, tracking and sharing essential information about your health that is scattered across many different providers and facilities. Personal Health Record is a handy way for patients to keep track of their medical information. It is maintain by each individual person, making you responsible for informed decisions about your health. PHRs are especially useful to those who see different doctors and take numerous medications at one time because doctors may not aware of every medication that their patients take if they see different doctors.

It is vital for a doctor to know what medicine a patient is taking and what other health problems he has been facing before any emergency treatment.  According to the American Health Information Management Association, It is very important to keep a Personal Health Record (PHR) even when you are not in an emergency situation. Most of the time when you visit your doctor, you don’t remember to tell him about every nook and corner of your health history So it’s better to store all your detailed health record, including all information of medications, allergies, vaccinations, surgeries, lab results, family history etc.

Following are few benefits of having PHR:

• ·         Information to provide to new physicians
• ·         Ability to knowledgeably discuss your health with providers
• ·         Easy access to health information when you are travelling
• ·         Access to information when you cannot contact your doctor
• ·         Your own progress chart for health goals

Personal Health Records (PHR) help patients and doctors to converse and interact successfully. You will be amazed to know that over 1.5 million patients each year are hurt by taking the wrong medicine and it is believed that errors can be avoided if proper information is provided. But do not confound a personal health record with an electronic health record which are created and controlled by hospitals and doctors for their own use.

Now while visiting a doctor you do not have to collect or arrange your files and prescriptions and test results, you can electronically send information to the provider or take a copy with you. For those patients seeking high quality, accurate, affordable, efficient and cost-effective healthcare, Personal Health Records are likely to become more and more indispensable. PHRs provide capabilities to record relevant information and keep medical professionals informed.