Medem To Launch No-Cost, Electronic Personal Health Records System

May 11, 2005

10 May 2005 Medical News Today

Medem, founded in 1999 by the American Medical Association and six

other medical societies, on Monday is expected to unveil a no-cost,

Internet-based " personal health record, " called... iHealthRecord,

people can use to log and organize their personal medical

information. With the health industry under " increasing pressure from

the government, insurers and patient advocates to go digital, " Medem

is hoping that interest in the system will encourage doctors to use

electronic health records, the Journal reports. Through Medem's

system, patients can collect data such as emergency contacts, health

insurance information and family medical history. Users will need a

password to access the record online and can provide the password to

doctors or family members for use in an emergency. To further address

privacy concerns, Medem has modeled the system's security measures on

those employed by the financial-services industry. Medem encrypts

data and hires an outside security company to perform audits on the

system. The company also will not sell users' medical information but

might make some data available to public health researchers. About 50

physicians and their patients are testing the system through a pilot

program. Medem will send patients and physicians using the system

information from CDC, FDA and other groups about prescription drug

recalls or about issues related to specific medications or health

conditions.

Other PHR Systems

Other groups and companies offer comparable personal health record

programs, such as WebMD's WebMD Health, Access Strategies' FollowMe

and PepsiCo's secure, Web-based personal health records program for

its workers. However, " no single format is yet attracting a critical

mass of users, " according to the Journal. National Coordinator for

Health Information Technology Brailer said, " This is kind of

the Darwinistic phase. " Lansky, director of health at the

Markle Foundation, said, " I think the Medem approach is a pretty

clever way to take a stab at [digitizing medical data], but it's not

a slam dunk by any means " (stein, Wall Street Journal, 5/9).

" Reprinted with permission from kaisernetwork.org kaisernetwork.org.

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