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Posted on 10 February 2012 Posted in Individuals & Families, Workplace Wellness, Corporate Benefits
You asked, and we got answers. Why would a person want to have a Personal Health Record? Here’s what one doctor of internal medicine had to say.
- Easy access. When you get sick or injured, your records are available. Even if they can’t talk, the doctor can access their records. If one of my patients ends up in the ER, I usually don’t go to my office first to get their chart. I ask my patient to tell me what drugs they are taking, what they are allergic to, etc. If the records are stored online, I could have easy access to them on the internet.
- Portability. If you change doctors, the records go with you more easily. Doctors are more likely to “nicely” give you records for a PHR while you are their paying patient than when you leave them and move to another physician.
- No duplication of tests and fewer unnecessary tests. This saves the patient money and time.
- Better care. Generally speaking, doctors are more careful if they believe the patient has a copy of everything they are doing. Keeps them on their toes, tells them you are paying attention and making more informed decisions.
