While we work to refine the Google Health product, we also continue to pursue integration agreements with providers to make it even easier for people to access their own medical information. We've learned over these past two years that getting a current and past medication history assembled and ready in case of emergencies is one of the strongest value propositions for using an online Personal Health Record (PHR). So today at HIMSS, we're announcing an integration with Surescripts, the leading electronic prescribing network in the United States, to help accelerate the availability of prescription drug history to our users. The Surescripts network connects doctors who prescribe medication to all of the nation’s major pharmacy chains, leading health insurance plans and pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), as well as more than 10,000 independent pharmacies nationwide. Surescripts provides access to prescription benefit and history information on behalf of health insurance plans representing 65 percent of patients in the U.S.

I am glad to see this announcement as we need more integration and development of PHRs.

A "PHR" is a Personal Health Record.  PHRs can collect and store official records, labs, tests, and claims data directly deposited by providers.  They can also store other health-related data such as heart rate, glucose levels, medications, allergies, exercise habits, lifestyle, sexual history, personal notes and other data you create.

The term 'PHR' implies you control this type of electronic health record - because its 'personal,' it's yours.  But that is simply not true of all PHRs.

How much control do you really have?

Think twice about who you allow to see, use, or control your most sensitive, personal health records, from DNA to prescriptions. Patient Privacy Rights (PPR) did our best to decode PHR privacy policies and spell out what control you have over your information.  PPR makes no recommendations on specific PHRs.  The Report Card is our opinion based on the information available on these companies' websites.

Interesting review from the Patient Privacy Rights (nonprofit) organization [1].

Spoiler: the current PHR offerings reviewed don't fare too well.

[1] "Patient Privacy Rights (PPR) works to empower individuals and prevent widespread discrimination based on health information using a grassroots, community organizing approach. We educate consumers, champion smart policies and expose and hold industry and the government accountable."

By Jacob Goldstein

Adam Bosworth, the guy who used to be Google’s VP of engineering and point man on health stuff, has his own company now — a health site called Keas.

The basic idea is straightforward: Plug in your health data, and get a plan to stay healthy. As your health changes, the plan changes. A profile of the company lands in this morning’s New York Times, which notes that the startup has some big-name partners: Google Health, Microsoft HealthVault and the big lab company Quest Diagnostics.

Google Health and Microsoft Health Vault aim to be personal health records, digital repositories of people’s health info. “But I decided my focus should be on the other side of the equation — what to do with the data,” Bosworth told the NYT.

Of course, plenty of other people are trying to figure out how to do this sort of thing. As the WSJ’s Kara Swisher noted last week Microsoft just launched “My Health Info,” which is supposed to work with HealthVault to allow people to do research, get guidance and monitor their health.

The ship still hasn’t really come in for this stuff — how many people do you know who store their health information in a personal online system? But that could change with the big push to get doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic records in the next few years. Entering your health data from your doctor’s paper records is a hassle, but — if everything goes according to plan — it could be much easier to move data from the doctor’s electronic files to your personal health record.

Image: iStockphoto

The time has come for widespread use of personal health records (PHR). However, the question remains how they will best be dispensed within the U.S. marketplace: web application? an extension of EHR at the healthsystem you receive care at? desktop application? widget? These are certainly interesting and exciting times for informatics.