America’s largest managed care organization, Kaiser Permanente, is teaming up with computer technology giant Microsoft to pilot a consumer controlled personal health record service to 156,000 Kaiser employees, which if successful, will then roll out to 8.7 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia.

The new service will allow voluntary data exchange between Kaiser’s My Health Manager patient information and Microsoft’s consumer health platform, called HealthVault.

Kaiser already has 2 million members using My Health Manager, which allows them to do things like email their doctor, refill prescriptions and schedule appointments online. Adding the functionality of Microsoft’s HealthVault will give members extra tools, and even the ability to plug in devices like a monitor to read and record blood pressure straight into their personal health file.

Vice president of online services at Kaiser Permanente, Anna-Lisa Silvestre, said:

“Providing new ways to manage their health online is one more way we can engage consumers in their care”.

“We believe that Microsoft HealthVault will be a valuable supplement to our expanding set of online features,” she added.

Corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Health Solutions Group, Peter Neupert, said they were very pleased to work with Kaiser and focus on improving quality of care and the health and wellbeing of individuals and their families:

“As the universe of online health applications continues to grow, people will learn how technology can empower them and their trusted providers to make the most informed decisions about their health and care,” said Neupert.

The not so obvious advantages of combining the two technologies is not just more tools, but improved security of data. The transfer of data between the two systems will obey federal standards to protect members’ information.

When they designed HealthVault on the principle that people should have a copy of their own health information, be able to control it, and share it with whoever they wanted, Microsoft said it was important to ensure they could do this in a security-enhanced environment. So after consulting consumer privacy experts, Microsoft developed what they described as “industry-leading health privacy commitments” for providers connecting with HealthVault.

HealthVault uses standards already familiar to the health care industry, these include: WC3 eXtensible Markup Language (XML), HL7 Continuity of Care Document, ASTM Continuity of Care Record, Clinical Document Architecture and Common Connectivity Device.

Kaiser said their My Health Manager is a tool for their members to communicate directly with their doctor using their PHR, and it goes further than that offered by other insurers.

As well as holding information on benefits and eligibility, Kaiser’s My Health Manager holds physician-entered data that goes deeper than that found in the standard claims-based personal health records. For example, a member can not only see that they had a test (fairly standard facility), but also view the results, and in some cases, read their doctor’s comments about the results.

Last month, internet giant Google launched its web based personal health record service. Like the Microsoft one, the Google health record system allows you to store information about drugs, diagnoses, tests, and treatments in a personal account that you control access to. It also monitors your search behaviour so if you look up a drug, the system alerts you about contra-indications based on information already in your health record.

It will be interesting to see how the market for consumer controlled private health records develops. It may depend on how the forces in favour of market growth balance with those that will hold it back. On one side we have the increasing hunger for health information and the desire to control one’s own health record, particularly that which is highly personal. And on the other side is fear about security and access, raising questions like “once it’s on the internet, will it be safe?” and, “if I share this with someone, who else is seeing it that I am not aware of?”

Some might argue that it’s the same as when people started using bank cards for making payments and getting cash out of ATM machines. At first many were cautious, insisted on writing out cheques or waiting for the bank to open, because they didn’t trust computers, or thought anyone could get get into their bank account if they got a card, but then, the tide gradually turned and now most people use them, fully aware of the risks, but convenience outweighs them.

Perhaps one day instead of wearing a bracelet showing one’s rare blood group or allergies in case we are in a medical emergency, we wear something that gives that doctor read-only access to a pre-selected abstract of our personal health record, which he or she pulls up on the monitor as they make their assessment.

Source: Kaiser, Microsoft.

Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD