Consumer health informatics is a technological application that allows users to interact with the application with the aim of providing personalized health data to users. The application provides data, recommendations and other benefits regarding patients, which can be used in coordination with healthcare professionals to enhance patient outcomes (Tavares & Oliveira, 2016). Different consumer informatics approaches to consumer health information and patients have emerged over the years. In this paper, personal health records and patient portals are examined.
Personal Health Records (PHRs) are electronic health information resources that people use to make health decisions and to own and manage their information from healthcare providers (Price, Bellwood, Kitson, Davies, Weber, & Lau, 2015). The process of completing personal health records encourages patients to be well informed about their health and assist them to gather all the health information in a single place. Patients can request their health records and laboratory results from their physicians by filling out forms provided by providers or other specialists. When completing a PHR, patients include information for different categories, such as their personal information, medication data, family or medical history, laboratory test results, discharge details if they are hospitalized, advance directives, and any notes or questions to providers. The collected information is then compiled and saved electronically.
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PHRs can be used in various ways to manage health. For example, PHRs can be connected to an existing Electronic Health Record (EHR) of a healthcare organization via the organization’s intranet to allow an individual to get specific data from the EHR. While connected to the EHR, the PHR enables the person to interact with healthcare providers, and sometimes allow both the provider and the individual to update data. The only disadvantage of PHRs connected to a single provider is that they may lead to problems for patients with different providers in different healthcare settings since patients can only access data from a single provider. A PHR can also act individually, either on a website, on a flash drive or on a mobile device. When acting individually, an individual can use the PHR to store relevant information, such as current health condition, serious past health issues, and other data. Standalone PHRs, however, do not allow patients to interact with providers. PHRs can also be integrated with a single EHR or different EHRs from healthcare providers via the internet to enable a patient to interact with providers and allow them to view test outcomes, collect data, or schedule appointments (Price et al., 2015).
Patient Portals are web-based systems that are connected to EHRs via the internet to encourage interactions between patients and providers remotely (Tavares & Oliveira, 2016). For example, patient can use patient portals to access their health data (Tavares & Oliveira, 2016). Patients can also use portals to access their clinical information, such as diagnostic and laboratory test results, claims and confirm the stored data in their clinical record (Tavares & Oliveira, 2016). Patients can also use portals to communicate with physicians via messages, seek appointments, and request drug refills (Tavares & Oliveira, 2016).
The difference between PHRs and Patient Portals is that PHRs are patient-centric as the patients or their family member control the PHR information while patient portals are controlled by the provider or the EHR system. Patient portals and PHRs connected via the internet use secure connections. Some patients, however, are concerned about the privacy of these technologies because of the possibility of their personal health data being leaked or misused (Price et al., 2015). More, work, is thus required to address these concerns.
Consumer health informatics can, nevertheless, help patients to gain greater empowerment in their individual healthcare management in different ways. For example, they can store their health information in a PHR to share with providers, which helps them to be sure that they possess all the important health information in a single location. In turn, this encourages them to engage in up-to-date discussions with their physicians regarding various topics related to their health (Wickard, 2018). They can ask questions about health issues they do not understand, seek clarification regarding medical prescriptions, request prescription refills, and book appointments when necessary.
Conversations between patients and physicians regarding health topics enhance the knowledge of physicians regarding patients’ health and patient treatment decisions. These conversations enhance the knowledge of patients, which encourages them to actively engage in the management of their individual healthcare (Wickard, 2018). Patients can also use consumer informatics to track their conditions, identify issues, and report to their physician in real time. They can also use the technology to remind them of their appointments and gain satisfaction due to its convenience (Wickard, 2018). In turn, this saves time while creating value both for the patients and for the providers.
When developing a policy for inclusion of PHRs into the Electronic Health Records, a facility must consider the interoperability of both the PHR and the EHR, and other sources of patient data (Price et al., 2015). The PHR should offer a comprehensive and longitudinal storage of a person’s health care and health record over his or her lifespan. Full inclusion of the PHR into the EHR should, thus, entail integrating data from both applications and other sources such as patient-centered information and pharmacies.
Organizations must also consider the issues such as privacy, control, and ownership of information (Price et al., 2015). The individual patient owns the PHR information and he or she can determine access to the PHR, can create new information, can assign another individual who can manage and utilize the PHR in his or her absence and can organize information from the EHR, pharmacies, and other sources.
Integration of PHRs into EHRs, thus, requires careful consideration of issues that can affect the patient since the patient owns the PHR information.
In conclusion, consumer health informatics offers many benefits both to users, healthcare organizations, and the entire healthcare sector. The field has the potential to empower patients to manage their individual healthcare while enhancing a healthy association between patients and physicians. It is crucial to encourage patients to engage with this technology to help them benefit from it.
References
Price, M., Bellwood, P., Kitson, N., Davies, I., Weber, J., & Lau, F. (2015). Conditions potentially sensitive to a personal health record (PHR) intervention, a systematic review. BMC medical informatics and decision making , 15 (1), 32.
Tavares, J., & Oliveira, T. (2016). Electronic health record patient portal adoption by health care consumers: an acceptance model and survey. Journal of medical Internet research , 18 (3).
Wickard, A. (2018, September 6). Are We Ready to Treat Patient-Generated Health Data? Retrieved September 15, 2018, from http://journal.ahima.org/2018/09/06/are-we-ready- to-treat-patient-generated-health-data/
