Personal health records must be designed with the right technology to remain patient centered to best manage an individual’s health, according to a Journal of the American Medical Association commentary published on Jan. 19, CMIO reports.
Virginia Commonwealth University physicians Alexander Krist and Steven Woolf described a model that they say should be used to keep the focus on the patient when developing PHRs.
Krist and Woolf write that the model should have five key functions:
Collect and store patient information;
Collect and store information from a patient’s physician;
Convert clinical information into more easily understood language;
Describe to patients ways to improve their health based on their information; and
Make it possible for patients to take action on their information.
The authors write, “The typical [PHR] takes an oversimplified approach,” adding, “The power of smart technology could enable PHRs to be far more refined and thereby more appealing to patients” (CMIO, 1/18).