Medicare Pilot Program Will Offer Beneficiaries Choices For Maintaining Their Ow

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Medicare Pilot Program Will Offer Beneficiaries Choices For

Maintaining Their Own Personal Health Records

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/117859.php

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a pilot

program to test options for beneficiaries with Original Medicare to

maintain their health records electronically. Under this pilot in

Arizona and Utah , a beneficiary may choose one of the selected

commercial personal health record (PHR) tools, and Medicare will

transfer up to two years of the individual's claims data into the

individual's PHR.

Medicare's administrative contractor, Noridian Administrative

Services (NAS), released a solicitation to potential PHR vendors

today. The program is scheduled to begin in January 2009 and is

expected to offer Medicare beneficiaries in the two states a choice

of several PHR options.

" This exciting pilot will be a major step forward for Medicare. We

believe that it will provide information and tools that will empower

consumers to manage their health, " said HHS Secretary Mike

Leavitt. " Importantly, we intend for the pilot to provide

beneficiaries with a choice of products that will make it possible

for beneficiaries to meet their individual needs. "

PHRs are tools that can help consumers manage their health and health

care services. A PHR is a record of health information that is under

the control of the consumer or patient. Sometimes it only contains

data entered by the individual or his or her provider, but it can

also include information from a health plan - as is the case in this

pilot, where Medicare provides health information from its claims

data base. A PHR is different than an electronic health record (EHR),

which is owned by and under the control of the physician.

Beneficiaries who select one of the participating PHR vendors can

also add other personal health information if they choose. Depending

on the specific product, they may be able to authorize links to other

personal electronic information such as pharmacy data. PHRs can offer

links to tools that help consumers manage their health such as

wellness programs for tracking diet and exercise, medical devices,

health education information, and applications to detect potential

medication interactions.

Beneficiaries can elect to allow family members to have access to

their PHR. They can also provide access to the PHR to their health

care providers.

" At Medicare, we strive to find innovative ways to better serve our

beneficiaries, " said CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems . " This

pilot is designed to evaluate how well PHRs meet the needs of our

beneficiaries and whether PHRs can improve health outcomes and lower

costs. "

The PHR vendors will have until September 8, 2008 to submit their

applications to participate in this pilot with CMS. If PHR vendors

want more information about this pilot, they can visit

http://www.NoridianMedicare.com/phr/ or they can send an email to

solicitation@....