JAMA: PHRs must be patient-centered to work
Personal health records (PHRs) have great potential to help patients manage their health, but the technology must be designed with the patient in mind—which means doing more than helping patients merely access their health information, according to an editorial in the Jan.19 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the editorial, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) family medicine physicians Alexander Krist, MD, associate professor in the department of family medicine in the VCU School of Medicine; and Steven Woolf, MD, professor in the department of family medicine and director of the VCU Center for Human Needs, describe a model to guide the creation of more patient-centered PHRs.
PHRs should include five key functions, according to the model:
Using principles from their model, Krist and Woolf’s research team has created a patient-centered PHR for prevention which shows patients their medical information and tells them what it means in a way they can understand. Further, it guides them to the next action steps.
“A patient-centered personal health record should make information actionable. It should allow patients to access and coordinate care, provide personally tailored decision aids and educational materials, prioritize individual needs and integrate care across primary and specialty care,” said Krist.
“The typical personal health record takes an oversimplified approach, such as issuing a blanket reminder for mammograms without considering the many factors that influence whether a screening is indicated,” he wrote. The power of smart technology could enable PHRs to be far more refined and thereby more appealing to patients.
Further, “[the] personal health record is a legacy term—the modern patient has more to do than keep records,” the editorial concluded. “Information technology holds great promise in empowering patients to manage their health but the patient must become the focus of the design if the technology is to be used or fulfill its potential.”
In the editorial, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) family medicine physicians Alexander Krist, MD, associate professor in the department of family medicine in the VCU School of Medicine; and Steven Woolf, MD, professor in the department of family medicine and director of the VCU Center for Human Needs, describe a model to guide the creation of more patient-centered PHRs.
PHRs should include five key functions, according to the model:
- Collect and store information from the patient;
- Collect and store information from the patient’s doctor;
- Translate clinical information into lay language;
- Tell patients how to improve their health based on their personal information; and
- Make the information actionable for patients.
Using principles from their model, Krist and Woolf’s research team has created a patient-centered PHR for prevention which shows patients their medical information and tells them what it means in a way they can understand. Further, it guides them to the next action steps.
“A patient-centered personal health record should make information actionable. It should allow patients to access and coordinate care, provide personally tailored decision aids and educational materials, prioritize individual needs and integrate care across primary and specialty care,” said Krist.
“The typical personal health record takes an oversimplified approach, such as issuing a blanket reminder for mammograms without considering the many factors that influence whether a screening is indicated,” he wrote. The power of smart technology could enable PHRs to be far more refined and thereby more appealing to patients.
Further, “[the] personal health record is a legacy term—the modern patient has more to do than keep records,” the editorial concluded. “Information technology holds great promise in empowering patients to manage their health but the patient must become the focus of the design if the technology is to be used or fulfill its potential.”