This is a good pilot program but the real danger here is:
“Each vendor will be responsible for marketing its program to consumers, and each has adopted its own privacy protections.”
Once more the consumer will be subjected to additional marketing and thrown a bone to figure out which choice they feel is appropriate with little or no combined outreach program to help. How many seniors know what a PHR is, you would be surprised at how many in healthcare have no clue too and don’t understand the value and how it works, so again, a big area in the education process that is truly lacking.
I have brought this up in conversations with folks at hospitals too, and gee right now they are so focused on just trying to run the facility and pay the bills that even getting their attention on how PHRs can benefit is a struggle, so I see this once more as a real battle to get everyone on the same path and look forward to seeing even a bigger deluge of marketing information and a new area of confusion. 
Don’t get me wrong, I see the PHR as being on very valuable tool, but the way are going about it doesn’t leave a whole lot to be desired if you can’t capture the attention of individuals in healthcare first of all, much less getting the proper direction to senior consumers to understand how they stand to benefit. It is what it is. I am just curious too as to how many members of Congress have embraced and use a Personal Health Record and do they know the value? Anybody at CMS use one? There certainly seems to be a real lack of anyone speaking out on the topic at the top levels, and thus if this is a product that will serve all, where’s the endorsements?
Again, anybody in government or private industry in top positions who could share some personal information stories on how it has benefited and helped with their healthcare would sure a nice breath of fresh air. BD
Arizona seniors will be pioneers in a Medicare program that encourages patients to store their medical histories on Google or other commercial Web sites as part of a government effort to streamline and improve health care. The federal agency that oversees Medicare selected Arizona and Utah for a pilot program that invites patients to store their health records on the Internet with Google or one of three other vendors. The program allows patients to easily share their medical histories, which now often must be provided separately to doctors, hospitals, labs or pharmacies. That could help patients if they switch doctors, pick up prescriptions or get care at an emergency room.
Ariz. picked for Google health-file experiment
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