Personal Health Records are a prescription for better health care

Utah and Arizona residents are part of an exclusive group chosen to participate in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Medicare’s pilot program for electronic personal health records (PHR).
Scott Barlow, CEO of Central Utah Clinic, began advocating for PHRs long before the government stepped in.
“Central Utah Clinic has offered a free PHR called iHealthRecord since 2005,” Scott says. “We examined the benefits of PHRs and could see this evolving into patient care and communication with health care providers.”
Medicare has sent material to enrollees on how to take advantage of their product, Medicare PHR Choice. However, PHRs are not limited to medicare-aged people.

What is a PHR?
PHR is an electronic file of a person’s health information such as current and past medications, allergies, medical history including surgeries, and hospital and doctor visits. This information can be shared or printed out as the person chooses.

What are the benefits of a PHR?
A PHR keeps medical information in one place, which makes it easier to find and share with healthcare providers.
Health information can be retrieved via the Internet anywhere and anytime.
PHRs are beneficial for those who take several medications and visit different doctors’ offices.
PHRs can also be helpful in medical emergencies. When permission to access the PHR is given, ER physicians can find key facts providing insight into treatment for the patient. Some PHRs give alerts to FDA warnings and medication recalls.
The need for PHRs was demonstrated in the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Many paper medical records were lost and destroyed. A PHR could have kept information secure.

How does one set up a PHR?
For Central Utah Clinic’s iHealthRecord, a person completes the free, confidential program through their own computer and Internet by going to the iHealthRecord link at www.centralutahclinic.com.
Once registered, health records can be printed and updated easily.

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