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Medicare News
Medicare to Help Senior Citizens Better Manage Their
Health Care Online
Pilot program to test the use of personal health
records online
 June 21, 2007 A pilot program aimed at
encouraging senior citizens to take advantage of Internet-based tools to
track their health care services and to provide them with other resources
to better communicate with health care providers, was announced
yesterday by Medicare.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
says the program will enable certain beneficiaries to access and use a
Personal Health Record (PHR) provided through participating health
plans, and accessible through
www.mymedicare.gov. A similar test was announced in July of
last year but the latest effort incorporates new information and uses.
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In general, a PHR is a collection of information
about an individuals health or health care services, such as medical
conditions, hospitalizations, doctor visits and medications. The data
that will be made available to the beneficiaries include registration
information such as name, address, and policy number as well as lists of
their medications and medical conditions.
The PHR tools will allow the beneficiary to look up
information about their own medications and medical conditions to help
them manage their own health care.
The beneficiary is in charge of his
or her own PHR and will control who is able to see the information it
contains. Sharing this information with healthcare providers from the
PHR will be entirely up to the beneficiary.
By collaborating with Medicare Advantage and Part
D Drug Plans which already offer Personal Health Record tools to their
commercial members, people with Medicare will have access to information
that will enable them to be more involved with their health care
services. said Leslie V. Norwalk, acting administrator of CMS.
The
steps we are taking today will also help CMS understand how to best
educate beneficiaries on the use of their PHR and to provide them access
to effective tools.
This month, CMS will launch the program in
conjunction with four health plans to test the use of their PHRs. The
plans are: HIP USA, Humana, Kaiser Permanente, and the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center. Each plan has a unique PHR tool that will be
accessible to beneficiaries. The availability of different tools will
provide valuable information to CMS on the various features offered,
including which are most popular and useful to the individual.
The pilot is expected to run for eighteen months,
and during this time CMS will collect both quantitative and qualitative
data to assess the use, usefulness, usability, and feature preferences
of the tools. The goals of the project are to:
● Determine the features that are most
attractive to Medicare beneficiaries;
● Identify the minimum content and functionality
for the PHRs tools; and
● Assess the best methods for outreach and
education to encourage adoption and ongoing use.
Currently, Medicare beneficiaries are able to
receive some personalized information about their Medicare benefits and
services at the Mymedicare.gov page on
www.medicare.gov.
The ability to access a fuller, more comprehensive
PHR from health plans, through the Mymedicare.gov site is an added
benefit to its current services, according to CMS.
This Registration Summary/Medication History PHR
study is part of a larger PHR action plan, which describes a number of
ways that CMS can help promote the growth of PHRs and ensure that
beneficiaries have private and secure access to their own health care
information.
CMS action plan supports the activities being
undertaken by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the
National Coordinator, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning
and Evaluation (ASPE), the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality,
and the American Health Information Community.
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