Yesterday it was noted in healthcare news all over that Revolution Health will be discontinuing the free PHR, personal health record offered to consumers.  All is not lost though, the consumers will be able to get their records sent to them in a pdf format.  This is better than nothing, but with all the talk today about integrating imagehealth care systems with data that can be used in another program, Adobe pdf is not one of them for data transfers. 

You can read more here on the details at Chillmark Research.  I agree with everyone else out there too, this is not doing a lot for consumer confidence in the personal health record department.  Revolution Health in it’s early days was the “cat”s meow” as far as being a credible and good solid source of information and still today there’s value, but what we are seeing here once again are some algorithmic formulas that calculate profit, otherwise would we be seeing a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission? 

To formulate the provisions we are once again using business intelligence software, as used by banks and health insurance companies to maximize the potential profitability here for investors.  The fact that you had your personal health records here at this point doesn’t mean much at all and your information is being shoved back to you in a form that is not friendly to being re-used.  This is a cold hard fact and I don’t particularly care for this either as it is the same provisions that are practiced by health insurance companies.  The once free and taunted PHR now is simply in the way of profits and “hey we can’t afford to keep this going” now that we are wanting to really secure some “hard” profitable business.  After the announcement, I looked on the website and they are still offering consumers the opportunity to sign up, so the lure of the “free” and helpful resources are going away in the sake of profits. 

So the conglomerate begins selling stock and out goes what is not profitable perhaps or what is now seen as not necessary as the group is not making money as reported here, so to the exchange we go.  This might just make you sit and and wonder about the world of investing today too, from a very simple stand point would someone invest in a company not making money or is this an area to being hedging?   Who do you trust today?  I have said time and time again with PHRs on this blog to ask where your records are being stored and who has access.

Last evening I watched the State of the Union address and was impressed with a President committed to forging ahead, but then also, as I have been for a long time, disappointed to see the reactions, comments, etc. of those in Congress and in the Supreme Court for that matter.  Long and short of all of this is that we have reached a stage with technology being wrapped into daily life, laws, you name it and we have people in roles that live their lives so far outside of this reality that it scares me to death on what will run down the tubes next.  When the layer of understanding is not there, we end up with some very strange and what I call “crazy and unrealistic” laws and provisions.  We have all noticed that and it will continue until our leaders catch up here.  For those of you reading here that don’t know what a PHR is, you are not alone and the video at the link below will show you what I mean.

Do You Know What a PHR is? Heck No, Do I Need to Know - Video worth 1000 Words

One of my other favorite topics here too is the lack of educations all the way around.  I’m still watching that CMS Pilot program to help seniors with PHRs too, which won’t work until there is value to be shown and like what the President said last night “trust”.  Politicians today are making promises that use technology and algorithmic formulas to make this happen and unfortunately understanding any of the operating portions doesn’t exist sadly.  It makes them look bad too when technology creates a change and then they are up in front trying to explain why something happened, and truth is, they don’t know why as non participants. 

Where Are the PHR Mentors – Education Required as the Arizona Senior Project is Finding Out with Little Participation

In the meantime we need to speak up and learn all we can so as consumers we can continue to be heard and not just shoved aside when algorithmic formulas generate a IPO filing and an attempt to pull some dollars out of a hat where they don’t exist.  Software is very good at doing this and there’s a lot of that going on all over the world, and unfortunately the average citizen is caught and left holding the bag once more.  Do keep in mind that all the big profits and salaries on Wall Street were all algorithmically derived, formulas that crank out numbers, not by the hard work really of any brokers.  BD

Everyday Health Inc., which operates more than two dozen consumer-oriented health content Web sites, has filed a Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission to conduct an initial public offering of stock.

The Brooklyn-based company, which recently changed its name from Waterfront Media Inc., has experienced strong revenue growth and heavy losses since inception in 2002. It hopes to raise up to $100 million before expenses from the IPO, with unspecified net proceeds going to the vendor and selling private shareholders.

The number of shares being offered and the expected price range has not been determined. Managers of the IPO include Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Jefferies & Company Inc. and Needham & Company LLC.

The company's portfolio of Web sites includes EverydayHealth.com, RevolutionHealth.com, Drugstore.com, CarePages.com, and WhatToExpect.com, among others. The sites combined have 38 million registered consumers and attract an average of 25 million unique visitors a month. Revenues primarily come from advertising, sponsorships, and the sale and licensing of content.

Consumer Web Site Firm Eyes IPO

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