Medicare Selects Four Companies to Help Seniors
Store Personal Health Records Online
‘It will provide information and tools that will
empower consumers to manage their health better:’ HHS Secretary Mike
Leavitt.
Nov. 12, 2008 – Medicare moved a step closer to
it’s goal of providing senior citizens the opportunity to maintain their
health records online by selecting four personal health record (PHR)
companies to participate in the test run of the program. The Medicare
PHR Choice Pilot program will include seniors in Arizona and Utah.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
says this pilot program will, beginning in early 2009, offer
beneficiaries with Original Medicare the opportunity to choose one of
the selected PHR companies to maintain their health record information
electronically.
The four selected companies are Google Health,
HealthTrio, NoMoreClipboard.com, and PassportMD. These choices offer
beneficiaries a range of product choices from ones that are free to ones
that have “concierge” service as well as a diverse set of connections to
health care providers, pharmacies, and other sources of health
information.
“This pilot is a major step forward for Medicare.
It will provide information and tools that will empower consumers to
manage their health better,” said HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt.
“Importantly, the pilot provides beneficiaries with
a choice of products to meet their individual needs.”
PHRs are tools that can help consumers manage their
health and health care services. A PHR is a record of health
information that is under the control of the consumer or patient.
Sometimes it only contains data entered by the individual or his or her
provider, but it can also include information from a health plan – as is
the case in this pilot, where Medicare will provide health information
from its claims database.
Lois
Fitzpatrick and husband, Ken, are preparing to deal with an 85
percent increase in the monthly premium for her Medicare drug
plan that will come next year.
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Nov. 10, 2008 – Medicare Open Enrollment – the
window that opens each year for senior citizens to make changes in their
Medicare programs – opens in five days on November 15. The attention is
on the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Program, where many seniors are
finding their old plans have changed drastically and they are facing
large cost increases in 2009.
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Open enrollment is Nov. 15 through Dec. 31 – Links
below to key information at Medicare
Links
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Oct. 10, 2008 – The data on the Medicare Part-D
prescription drug plans for 2009 has now been loaded into the computers
and senior citizens can begin exploring their options for the new year.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has been relentless in
warning seniors that the cost of their current plan may increase
significantly in 2009 and it is important they explore all the options,
including other drug plans or Medicare Advantage plans with drug
coverage. (See below story for help in finding information at Medicare)
Read more...find links to Medicare data
A PHR, which is controlled by the consumer, is
different than an electronic health record (EHR), which is owned by and
under the control of the physician. A PHR may only contain data entered
by the consumer or his or her health care provider.
Through this pilot beneficiaries who select one of
the participating PHR vendors can add other personal health information
if they choose. Medicare will also transfer up to two years of the
beneficiary’s claims data into the individual’s PHR, if the beneficiary
requests it.
Depending on the specific product, beneficiaries
may be able to authorize links to other personal electronic information
such as pharmacy data.
PHRs also may offer links to tools that help
consumers manage their health such as wellness programs for tracking
diet and exercise, information about drugs and medical devices, health
education information, and applications to detect potential medication
interactions. Beneficiaries can elect to allow family members, health
care providers, or whomever they choose to have access to their PHR.
This can allow caregivers to help manage loved ones health or be
critical to a physician caring for you in an emergency.
Each company has privacy and security standards to
protect the information transmitted and stored in their PHR records.
More information on the specific security and privacy policies of each
of the participating companies can be found on their websites.
CMS’ contractor, Noridian Administrative Services
(NAS), led the “intensely competitive” selection process, according to
the CMS announcement.
“At Medicare, we strive to find innovative ways to
better serve our beneficiaries,” said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry
Weems. “We encourage beneficiaries to consider whether a PHR is right
for them. We plan to evaluate beneficiaries’ satisfaction, issues or
concerns about PHRs, and whether PHRs seem to improve the health and
associated costs for caring for beneficiaries as part of this pilot.”
More information about the selected companies may
be found at these web links:
Nov. 12, 2008 – Medicare moved a step closer to
it’s goal of providing senior citizens the opportunity to maintain their
health records online by selecting four personal health record (PHR)
companies to participate in the test run of the program. The Medicare
PHR Choice Pilot program will include seniors in Arizona and Utah.
