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WASHINGTON – Health insurance industry representatives announced Wednesday a web-based model for personal health records (PHRs) that they claim would incorporate core health data elements, maintain privacy, and enable patients to view and manage their health information.
Representatives from America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the
Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (
BCBSA) say that they worked together to develop a secure web-based tool that contains a consumer’s claims and administrative information as well as core health data.
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This industry model PHR would be maintained by an insurer, but would conceivably be portable from insurer to insurer as patients switched coverage.
“Health insurance plans are in a unique position to make a contribution through consumer-focused PHRs,” said AHIP President
Karen Ignagni. “Until now, the information contained in PHRs has not been consistent…or portable from health plan to health plan.”
The insurance industry representatives revealed that core health data stored in the insurer-maintained PHR would include patient histories, medications, immunizations, allergies, risks, and plans of care.
The health insurance industry has set a goal of incorporating these core data elements and implementing the standards for portability from a prior insurer to a new insurer by 2008.
AHIP and
BCBSA indicated that they have worked with standards organizations to make certain that their insurer-based PHR is compatible with interoperability standards that are still in development.
“We undertook the project with the idea that we wanted our work to be in sync with the Administration’s priorities and a building block for future efforts,” said
Scott Serota, BCBSA President and CEO. “PHRs built with these shared standards will go a long way in creating a seamless and efficient health care system that truly benefits the consumer.”
Robert M. Kolodner, MD, Interim National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS, attended the industry announcement and said that he welcomed the group’s work on developing portable PHRs and considered it a “step forward in the national health IT agenda.”
While insurance industry representatives claim their plan will address patient privacy concerns, questions about the security of medical information are likely to remain potent as different formats for PHRs are developed.
For instance, a recent study commissioned by the
Markle Foundation found that consumers are very concerned that companies could misuse medical information contained in PHRs for marketing purposes and they also fear that they may be vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.
