Taking control of your health -- from organizing medical records and lab results following doctor visits to logging efforts for dropping those few extra pounds -- one day might be as easy and intuitive as online banking.
A groundbreaking project in northwest Georgia soon will encourage consumers to play a bigger role in their health care by creating electronic personal health records, uploading medical information and images into one easy-to-access location a button click away.
Earlier this year, the Georgia Cancer Coalition and state Department of Community Health received a $1.7 million federal grant – one of 10 awarded nationwide – to create a patient-focused health information exchange in the Rome area.
While states have developed ways for hospitals, doctors and other providers to electronically share information, the Georgia effort to create a more consumer-focused system could result in a national trend, said Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.
“Implementing technology can be difficult,” Mostashari said. “It’s changing not only the tools you use but more fundamentally the way we take care of patients.”
Still in the beginning stages, Georgia organizers are exploring technology options but haven't established yet exactly how the electronic system will work or what features it will include. The possibilities, however, are abundant.
Patients could send secure emails with questions to doctors or nurses. Mothers could use their personal health records to store their children’s immunization records. Diabetics could record daily blood sugar readings for doctors to examine.
People would be able to choose who gets access to the information, from family members to emergency room doctors. Privacy protections will be of the utmost concern.
The exchange initially will be available to cancer patients with complex diagnoses and treatments, people who now must navigate a dizzying array of specialist visits , lab tests, chemotherapy sessions and medications. The coalition will work with three medical providers, Harbin Clinic, Floyd Medical Center and Redmond Regional Medical Center.
Rome residents, such as breast cancer survivor Diane Miller, are receptive to the innovation. Diagnosed in 1998, Miller found herself lacking information and wished she had a better understanding of the treatments doctors recommended..
“It is a jungle out there,” said Miller, 55. “If we can have one more tool to help, I’m all for it.”
The project is part of a larger effort nationwide -- fueled in part by the new health care law -- to curb escalating costs by keeping people healthier and urging them to take more responsibility for their care.
“The biggest issue we have with health care in general is that there’s a large segment of the population who think that health care is somebody else’s problem,” said Ricardo Azziz, president of Georgia Health Sciences University.
In addition to people dealing with excessive medical information, a patient-focused system might offer advice on how to stay healthy, such as sending schedules for mammograms or other screenings, said Janice Hopkins, oncology service line director for the Harbin Clinic in Rome.
Better communication among providers and patients can help lower costs by reducing unnecessary hospitalizations or ER visits, avoiding duplicating expensive tests and preventing medication errors, experts say.
Georgia health officials currently are creating a statewide electronic information exchange to improve sharing among doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, insurers, pharmacies and other providers.
The Department of Community Health received $13 million in federal dollars last year to develop the state exchange. It will eventually tie together regional exchanges that have formed in central Georgia, Savannah and other areas.
A basic system should be up and running early next year, followed by other services, such as e-prescribing, said Kelly Gonzalez, interim state health information technology coordinator. While the main focus will be sharing data among providers, incorporating patients also will be explored, she said.
The cancer coalition plans to develop its exchange over the next two years, with data sharing beginning in the next six to nine months, said Phil Lamson, a senior health care consultant at the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute. It will focus first on cancer patients but eventually include the chronically ill, as well as healthy people, Lamson said.
Doctors, and perhaps patients, will incur some cost, depending on the approach the coalition takes in creating the exchange. Doctors might pay up to $150-$200 a year for the service, according to one solution being examined, Lamson said.
Once connected to the secure, two-way system, patients would choose a personal health record system, which a number of companies are developing, to input or upload data they receive from their physicians, he said.
Companies already offer online-based services, such as Microsoft HealthVault. Using the free service, patients can type in information manually, upload documents and images, have doctors fax records directly to HealthVault, access information with their smart phone and use compatible devices, such as pedometers and blood pressure monitors to add data, among other uses.
Health systems nationwide are developing personal health records for patients and other tools, said Azziz, who tracks nutrition and fitness using an application on his BlackBerry. However, it’s up to people to be engaged and use those tools, he said.
“If I don’t input those calories or I don’t input that exercise … that’s not going to be very helpful,” Azziz said.
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