UNITED STATES, Apr 17 — Employing a personal health record can decrease health care expenses because many of the health care dollars go toward the generation of information necessary to diagnose and appropriately treat. With passage of the health care reform act, which will expand health care coverage to an additional 32 million persons by 2019, more patients will be establishing new doctor/patient relationships and the flow of health information will most likely increase exponentially.
Although in recent years there has been a push for doctors to purchase and utilize electronic health care record programs for management of patient health information in the hopes that there will be a centralized database of patient health information that will minimize treatment errors, in actuality, most doctors have not adopted the technology, and even if most did, because of the differences in practice and recording styles, a central database would not contain all of the data updated in real-time to meet health care needs of every patient in every health care setting and situation.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purpose only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for medical consultation with a qualified professional
E
mploying a personal health record can decrease health care expenses because many of the health care dollars go toward the generation of information necessary to diagnose and appropriately treat. With passage of the health care reform act, which will expand health care coverage to an additional 32 million persons by 2019, more patients will be establishing new doctor/patient relationships and the flow of health information will most likely increase exponentially.
Although in recent years there has been a push for doctors to purchase and utilize electronic health care record programs for management of patient health information in the hopes that there will be a centralized database of patient health information that will minimize treatment errors, in actuality, most doctors have not adopted the technology, and even if most did, because of the differences in practice and recording styles, a central database would not contain all of the data updated in real-time to meet health care needs of every patient in every health care setting and situation. Therefore, the best repository of health information is you and your own personal health record.
One scenario illustrating the cost of generating and exchanging health information is the initial new patient visit to establish a doctor/patient relationship. A physician or other health care provider evaluating a patient for during an initial encounter needs information provided by the patient which is oftentimes lacking because the patient is not knowledgeable and/or because previous treatment records were not requested, requested but not received, or requested and received but illegible. The new physician will oftentimes need approximate dates of diagnoses, approximate dates and results of prior tests, and approximate dates of hospitalizations with some details of the care which was given. If that information is not available, some doctors rely on ordering tests that he or she might otherwise not order had the necessary information been available at the time of the patient visit. The net result is an additional expense for the patient or at the very least another component of spiraling health care costs.
Many diagnoses and treatment plans are made based on subjective information, i.e. information verbalized by the patient. For example, in evaluating chest pain a doctor will usually need to know when and how the pain started, the location of the pain, the frequency of the pain, the duration of the pain, the intensity of the pain, the quality of the pain (cramping, burning, stinging, etc.), what makes it better, what brings it on, what makes it worse, and other symptoms associated with the pain before deciding whether to admit the patient to the hospital to rule out a heart attack or whether to treat the patient for acid reflux outside of the hospital. Many times however, because of poor preparedness and/or because of nervousness, patients feel put on the spot when asked certain questions about their symptoms and conditions.
By recording information pertaining to symptoms and conditions to be discussed during a future visit to the doctor, a patient is better prepared for the visit with useful information which can reduce expenses by minimizing over-reliance on the ordering of tests. Additionally, the information is likely to be more accurate than information which has not been recorded and thus more likely to maximize the quality of health care received.
A personal health record might therefore also lower health care costs during follow-up visits or sick visits because a well-designed personal health record software program allows the patient to create pre-visit notes and journal notes about new and established problems, which can be printed and presented to the doctor at the time of a visit. Additionally, the updating of entries in the personal health record by the patient tends to even better prepare the patient to answer questions during an impending doctor visit.
At the time of the writing of this article the duration of an average doctor visit in the United States is approximately 16 minutes which is fairly generous compared to a county like Holland where it is 8 minutes. Factors which could result in a decrease in the length of doctor visits in the United States include health care reform which will increase the number of patients receiving treatment, the shortage of physicians, and increasing medical practice overhead. If the average duration of doctor visit in the United States does decrease the number of visits to address a set number of conditions is likely to increase unless more can be accomplished per individual visit.
Implementing and maintaining a personal health record in principle should reduce health care cost not only at the time of the new patient visit, but also during established patient visits by shifting the diagnostic emphasis from objective date to subjective data and minimizing the number of required visits. The basic means by which utilizing a personal health record can lower health care costs is by enabling more efficient generation and exchange of health information.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purpose only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for medical consultation with a qualified professional. The author encourages Internet users to be careful when using medical information obtained from the Internet and to consult your health care professional if you are unsure about your medical condition.
Communicate directly with Victor Battles, the author of this article. Ask questions, send suggestions, comments, engage in conversation, or perhaps you would like to submit a project.
Click Here to ask a question, send a comment, or proposal.
On a recent shopping spree, I happened to bump in to a good friend who was coming back from a cosmetic surgeon’s appointment in an upscale New York clinic. Naturally, it aroused my curiosity to know what she was up to at the cosmetic clinic. He
It seems that there are always too many disagreements between care homes and local councils who have to come together to agree about the standard fees which are payable for council funded residents. Given the current economic climate in the public se
Suffering from diabetes can really be difficult and challenging. At the same time, you need to find help to make sure that you will always be in a stable situation. And as you may know, this will entail a lot of costs. But then again, it is necessary
Eyes, perhaps the most precious gift given by the almighty and one who doubts must ask a person with a vision disability, for whom there is only one color, “black”. Eyes remained a source of inspiration for poets from yesteryear’s, but as
Natural Remedies Can Be Effective Hair Loss Treatments
Many ideas and theories exist about natural hair loss remedies that may or may not help, but experts agree they can’t hurt!
Both children and adults can suffer from ADD (technically known as Attention Deficient Disorder), in fact, Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, or Adult ADD/ADHD is growing in incidences and prevalence.
Hyaluronic acid, also known as hyaluronan, is one of the main components of the extracellular matrix of connective tissue and joints, and is one of the main chemicals contained in the synovial fluid that lubricates your joints. Before we discuss how
OVER WEIGHT INTRODUCTION: Overweight refers to an excess of body weight compared to set standards. The excess weight may come from muscle, bone, fat, and/or body water. Obesity refers specifically to having an abnormally high proportion of body fat.[
Vision is the most precious and wonderful gift that has been given ro humans and at the same time it has been the most neglected body part. Nearsightedness or Myopia is an eyesight problem in which a person faces great difficulty in viewing distant o
Employing a personal health record can decrease health care expenses because many of the health care dollars go toward the generation of information necessary to diagnose and appropriately treat. With passage of the health care reform act, whic
There are many things you can do while planning and implementing a program to quit smoking which will increase the probability of your attempt being successful. First of all you must develop a strong desire to quit. Develop or fortify that desire by
The health hazards of exposure to secondhand smoke are well recognized by experts in the health care field. Secondhand smoke is that environmental tobacco smoke resulting from cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking by a smoker. There are two forms of secon
Because two of the chief obstacles to achieving weight loss are overcoming the temptation to consume excessive calories and maintaining a nutritionally balanced diet, a weight-loss meal plan which consists of home delivered meals might make your weig
A blood pressure monitor can be an important tool in virtually any weight loss program. The primary reason is the basic methods of weight loss, i.e. diet and exercise, can have significant effects on pressure within the arteries which can be benefici
Syndication
tweet
PDF version
Printable version
Publisher HTML version
Discussions (0)
Email Article
Post New Comment