A personal health record pilot announced in August by Medicare for Arizona and Utah residents got its official start on Tuesday.
"With up-to-date, accurate and accessible personal health records, Medicare beneficiaries avoid the pitfalls of paper records by having critical information available when they need to make healthcare decisions," said Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt.
The pilot program offers beneficiaries with Original Medicare a choice of personal health record products offered by the companies selected for the pilot.
The participating companies, announced in December, are Google Health, HealthTrio, NoMoreClipboard.com and PassportMD.
The companies offer beneficiaries a range of product choices, including ones that and those that offer "concierge" services, for an extra fee, with additional features such as adding notes from healthcare providers and other sources of health information.
"This pilot provides beneficiaries with a choice of products to meet their individual needs," said HHS Deputy Secretary Tevi Troy.
PHRs will make it possible for beneficiaries to maintain their health record information electronically, and Medicare will add claims data directly to the PHRs for this pilot, Troy said.
Through the pilot, beneficiaries who select one of the PHRs offered by the participating vendors can choose to add additional personal health information to supplement the information provided by Medicare, Troy explained. Depending on the specific product, beneficiaries may be able to authorize links to other personal electronic information such as pharmacy data.
Beneficiaries can allow family members, healthcare providers or whomever they choose to have access to their PHR.
Noridian Administrative Services is coordinating the pilot program under contract with Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
