ADDING VALUE A LITTLE AT A TIME WITH LIFELONG PHR
Personal Health Records help to improve outcomes and lower costs.
Lifelong PHR enables responsible individuals to create
Personal Health Records for their families and themselves by organizing
information that they collect It is an incremental process that
accumulates over time. Yet even parents of infants will begin to
see its importance. Here are a
few examples of how Lifelong PHR is used to bring value.
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An 85 year-old woman broke her hip. It was pinned, but did
not hold due to osteoporosis. Two weeks later the hip needed to be replaced
in a second operation. When the second hip was broken six years later,
another surgeon repeated the same procedure. When a family member found out
that the patient was standing a day later, attention was called to the
earlier problem and more bed rest was prescribed in time to enable
sufficient healing and avoid a second costly operation.
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Two doctors prescribed duplicate pneumonia vaccinations for
patients. One was an emergency room doctor that did not know the primary
care physician (PCP) had already administered the vaccination; the other was
a PCP who was advised by the patient who had a better memory and a PHR to
back it up.
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A baby's mother needed to know if her babysitter had ever had
an illness and could care for her sick child that had it. Another PHR to
the rescue.
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An eye patient paid a $100 co-pay for drops that did not
help. Without a PHR, another doctor could easily try the same medication in
the future. According to Bloomberg Business Week, approximately half
of prescription medications did not work as expected in 2008 at a cost of
about $145 Billion. A PHR can help to avoid mistakenly repeating their
use.
Doctors need to know what
Over-The-Counter medications and vitamins are being taken. Some can
cause excessive bleeding during operations or have adverse reactions with
other medications being prescribed. It is important for patients to be able
to tell their doctors about things that unknowingly can cause these
problems.
Over
someone's lifetime, Lifelong PHR will prove to be a most trusted source of
information about their health and healthcare. Lifelong PHR will complement
and add records, some that providers will already know about. However,
over time, along with fading memories, fewer and fewer records will be
retained by others. Years after the fact Lifelong PHR will still have
important information that others will lack that will help to guide ongoing
medical decisions. Managed from the patient perspective, Lifelong PHR will
include patient's notes about events as well as relevant references to
supporting documentation.
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What
is a Personal Health Record (PHR)?
A PHR is an organized
collection of information about a person that will aid in making
informed decisions about their healthcare. For more
information about PHRs, click
here.
What does Lifelong PHR
consist of?
Lifelong PHR is a software product that
can be downloaded from the Internet or distributed on standard
computer media.
It is designed to be easy-to-use, highly
intuitive, requiring little or no assistance, setup and training.
It operates on PCs running Microsoft Windows® including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.
The software enables users to store data and print standard reports. Information stored in the database includes:
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General Information – Personal description and contact information
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Health Care Providers –
Listing of
doctors, pharmacies and labs
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Medications – Taken before or taken
recently, including prescriptions and Over-The-Counter
medications and vitamins
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Procedures – Including tests,
surgeries and treatments
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Allergies, illnesses and injuries
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Immunizations, and inoculations
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Vital signs – Height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, glucose, cholesterol
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Encounters – Appointments
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Insurance
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Family History
Although a standalone product, it links to the
Microsoft Outlook calendar to remind about appointments and
the need to refill prescriptions.
Reports are generated using an included runtime version of Crystal Reports. |
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