Theres An App For That: Phrs And The Wii Generation

It seems as if were inching ever closer to a wide-scale proliferation of electronic health records (EHRs)

. The much talked about American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contained major incentives to encourage the meaningful use and adoption of the promising technology. Add to the equation some variation of healthcare reform which will further promote the digitization of medical records, and its safe to say were on the cusp of a significant technological revolution in healthcare.

And that got me thinkingWhere exactly do personal health records (PHRs remember those?) shake out in all of this? Will we ever see significant uptake to the extent that theres a legitimate demand for them? Products such as Microsofts HealthVault and Google Health created a lot of buzz when they appeared on the scene in recent years, but it appears that people havent exactly been waiting in line to open accounts. Will they ever?

The simple answer is yes. And when they do, look out. Heres how I see it playing out

In a few short years our currently younger, tech-savvy and web-dependent generations are going to become better acquainted with the healthcare system. Whereas they now maybe see a doctor once or twice a year for basic services like a physical or a flu shot, theyll soon start catching up to us older folks who utilize healthcare more frequently, even if it isnt for themselves. As their parents medical needs grow, many will undoubtedly become primary caregivers and enter the system that way. Already used to executing the rest of lifes serious business digitally banking, taxes, job hunting, dating, clothes shopping almost on cue theyll begin seeking products and services that enable them to manage their health (or that of loved ones) the same way. Collaboration among all stakeholders will be critical to easy-to-manage healthcare.

So theres your demand. Its going to be an enormous opportunity and an equally large challenge for health IT. As much as these current whippersnappers depend on technology to make their lives easier, to a degree they also want it supplied to them, and they want to be assured of its value. In other words, if they have to create their own PHRs by inputting data themselves, its not going to happen. Just as they expect their paychecks to magically appear in their checking accounts every two weeks and their car payments and utility bills to be paid in the same automated fashion, so too will they expect ready-made health records that not only contain an accurate medical history but also suggest to them what they might be thinking about in the future based on their past. The information cant just be data; it needs to be smart and meaningful. It needs to make a measurable, if not quantifiable difference in their lives.

We have to be ready. There isnt going to be much of a ramp-up to this revolution. Its going to happen rather abruptly, and the HIT industry cant afford to wait and react; we need to start preparing now. The industry has already begun laying the groundwork to capitalize on this opportunity. Interoperability, collaboration and health information exchange have been and will continue to be dominant themes. This is exactly what its going to take to support the demand that rises in the wake of the PHR big bang. We need to ensure that we can facilitate the exchange of clinical data among all parties in the healthcare ecosystem so that each can have mutual access to actionable, real-time information that creates a complete picture of the patient. This will be the lifeblood of successful PHRs essentially meeting consumers where they want to be met in whatever technical format and through whatever device they choose.

I suppose you could simplify things by thinking of it this way: when the Wii generation starts needing healthcare in a few short years, its up to us to ensure that they have an app for that.

by: Carole Hodsdon

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