A PHR (Personal Health Record) is a tool used to collect share and evaluate health information about an individual. Unlike other health documents, a PHR is prepared and maintained by an individual and so they have full control over how they share their PHR. A PHR is sometimes important since it can save someone the expenses of repeating routine procedures at times when their health history urgently is required by health care providers
Comparison of Microsoft Health Vault and MyHealthFolder
| Microsoft health vault | MyHealthfolder |
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Features The platform allows users to store information under three main sections namely: Measurements- this sections stores measurements such as weight, blood pressure, glucose levels, menstruation, exercises and many more Current health- some of the information stored under this section includes the medications, allergies history, details on immunizations, lab results and upcoming appointments among others. Contacts and insurance- it stores information regarding the contacts ad insurance details of a user This facility does not offer the unique feature of managing all family members information on one platform Additionally, this platform offers a way to achieve the weight and fitness goals through a weight management dashboard that helps you track your fitness activities. |
Features MyHealthFolder stores users’ information in three main folders My Information-Some of the personal information includes the Users full names, their contact address and their employers M Providers- My provider's folder stores the information about HealthCare providers and Insurance providers. It includes information regarding the doctors, pharmacists, specialists, and the user's insurance plan. My Medical History- this folder stores the health history of the user. It includes information such as surgeries undergone, immunizations, and test results on past tests done, family medical history, previous treatments, medications and allergic conditions of the user among others. Another unique feature of this PHR is the option to add the health information of family members such as children in one account. Parents can, therefore, have more control over their children health history just at the tap of a button. This feature of fitness and weight loss monitoring is not offered on this platform |
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Protection of users privacy One of the privacy policy of the organization is that only the users can access their portals and no third party can be granted permission to access of this information by the organization, unless by the users themselves. Two-step verification method to ensure high-security standards on how their account is accessed. Members have to verify their login details as well as their contact details before they are logged in to their profiles thus protecting third parties from accessing their information, |
Protection of users privacy The organization is guided by a privacy policy that ties them to ensuring total privacy to users information to ensure only the user has full control over who accesses their information. A unique security feature of this service is the unique card which provides one-time login details to the users portal and so this card, when carried to a health care professional, gives them full access to the users emergency information with one-time login details, this private information can only be Accessed at their consent. |
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Advantages It is free to sign up and start using the service, unlike other platforms that require premium subscriptions It’s a simple and easy platform to use since no complex procedures are involved Disadvantages It does not offer a platform to store all family records in one account unlike MyHealthFolder platform |
Advantages This service is free to sign up and no premium subscriptions are required Its simplicity ensures helps users to easily store their information with much ease Disadvantages The platform has not included the unique feature of fitness and weight management despite this being a key factor to living a healthy life |
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Can facilities rely on data provided in PHR?
PHR data is highly reliable in providing a patient's medical history. While some users may enter input dates in formats that are confusing, most PHR provides uniform date formats that are used on the platforms. Therefore only minimal challenges on date validation can be experienced. Use of nicknames is at minimal as most users usually create accounts with their personal details. Even when used, facilities can ignore these nicknames and just identify the records with the official identity names of the user in their databases. Complex information on medications such as the use of name brands instead of generic names can pose a challenge to the facilities while identifying the medications. But with the evolution of the internet, finding information has never been easier. One can access information at the touch of a button. Therefore finding the identity of the few confusing medications possess a very minimal challenge. Overall, most information such as history on surgeries, immunizations and allergic conditions can prove a very reliable to the healthcare organizations.
How can a facility validate PHR data?
Validating PHR user data can be a challenging task to healthcare providers especially with the potential implications of using inaccurate information to administer treatment to a patient. To provide some validity to the information, caregivers can adopt approaches such as asking for some of the written supportive documents from the patient. Through comparison with the electronic date, facilities can establish the level of trust they can give to the validity of a user PHR data. In case the patient had sought medication from the same facility, internal records can be used to validate the information, especially if it's a critical and serious issue. Other approaches could be to interview the patient or their parents/relatives on the validity of the information on the patient. In case there is serious doubt, the facility can also decide to perform some of the tests to check whether the results conform to the ones on the PHR. All this should be done with full consent of the patient's privacy .
