CMS to identify PHR features that are most attractive to Medicare
beneficiaries, as well as best methods to encourage adoption and ongoing
PHR use
WASHINGTON, June 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The health insurance
plan community is collaborating with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to optimize their health
using Internet-based tools. Health insurers are part of a pilot that
enables beneficiaries to access and use personal health records (PHRs)
provided by their Medicare Advantage and/or Medicare Part D plans through
http://www.mymedicare.gov.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040830/AHIPLOGO )
PHRs enable individual patients and their designated caregivers to view
and manage health information and play a greater role in their own health
care. PHRs are distinct from electronic medical records, which providers
use to store and manage detailed clinical information.
The participating health insurers include HIP USA, Humana, Kaiser
Permanente, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
The new collaboration with CMS builds on an insurance industry project,
announced in December, 2006, designed to provide consumers across the
country with greater access to the benefits of PHRs. Members of the two
sponsoring organizations -- America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) -- cover over 200 million
people. About 90 million individuals already have PHRs through health
insurers. This includes individuals who are covered through their
employers, as well as an increasing number of individuals covered under
public programs.
AHIP and BCBSA worked together to identify the core information to
include in PHRs, including patient histories, medications, immunizations,
allergies, risks, plans of care, and other information that physicians
identified as the key data. They developed and pilot-tested standards that
enable consumers to transfer PHR data when they change coverage. This
ensures that PHRs will be portable from health insurer to health insurer as
consumers have requested.
There is consensus among stakeholders that the widespread adoption of
health information technology will lead to safer, more effective health
care. Experts believe adoption of technology will reduce preventable
errors, such as medication errors, increase compliance with recommended
treatments, improve treatment for people with chronic disease, and
contribute to lower health care costs.
"Health insurance plans are in a unique position to make a contribution
to the nation's efforts to achieve full interoperability, and we are
pleased to work with CMS to extend the benefits of PHRs to more people who
are covered by Medicare," said AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni.
The CMS pilot will run for eighteen months, and during this time CMS
will collect data to assess the use of PHRs and identify the features
beneficiaries prefer. They will also determine how best to conduct outreach
and education and how best to encourage adoption and ongoing use of PHRs.
The initiative launched by the health insurance industry in December
involves working with a leading consumer organization -- the National
Health Council -- on ways to best encourage adoption and use of PHRs.
Good health care in the 21st century means having the right information
in the right hands at the right time. Individuals need real-time access to
health information that may be dispersed among a number of physicians,
hospitals, pharmacies, and other health care providers.
But we are many years away from having a system that is fully
interoperable. The insurance industry effort is viewed as a building block
for future efforts, and the industry is working closely with those that are
developing standards to ensure that health plan based PHRs are compatible
with standards as they are developed.
America's Health Insurance Plans -- Providing Health Benefits to More
Than 200 Million Americans
SOURCE America's Health Insurance Plans
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