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Health records set to go online
Program to let Utah Medicare patients track, update personal history

By Lisa Rosetta
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/13/2008 01:28:12 PM MDT
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10183971?source=rss

With a click online, Utahns on Medicare will be able to better manage their personal health information.
Beginning in January, Utah will become one of two states in the country to participate in a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) personal health record pilot program.
Unlike electronic health records, which are controlled and used by health care providers, personal health records are managed by patients. Allergies, medications, lab results - all can be entered by the patient and then shared with their family members or physicians.
Depending on which program beneficiaries choose, they also may be able to link to their pharmacy data, or to tools that help them track their diet and exercise or detect potential dangerous medication interactions.
The idea is to give beneficiaries more control over their health information, but in a way that protects their privacy and is portable when they need treatment, said CMS spokesman Mike Fierberg. Health care providers, meanwhile, will ideally save time collecting the data and, with it, make fewer medical errors.
Personal health records are "an incremental step to making health care more efficient and more effective," he said.
And toward making people healthier, said Teresa Rivera, assistant executive director of the Utah Health Information Network, which is building a statewide
"You're tracking all kinds of symptoms and issues before they evolve into something that is very chronic and hard to manage," she said.

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