Personal health records (PHRs) offer round-the-clock access to personal health information and decision support tools so that patients can understand their treatment options and better manage the care they receive. A November 2006 survey commissioned by the Markle Foundation found that Americans overwhelmingly want to have electronic copies of their medical records and believe that having greater access to their own health information will reduce medical mistakes and costly repeat procedures. At the same time, many of the survey respondents expressed serious concerns about the privacy and security of their health information.
In an effort to spur development of innovative, patient-centered PHRs, the Carol Franc Buck Breast Care Center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) was selected to understand how to help consumers use information technology to navigate the health care system. Under the direction of Laura Esserman, M.D., M.B.A., the UCSF team designed an application to build a customized care plan for patients diagnosed with breast cancer. California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) funded $300,000 toward the UCSF project.
UCSF was one of nine teams, chosen from a pool of more than 165 applicants by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that worked collaboratively to design and test a suite of PHR applications built upon a common platform to help people better meet their health care needs in an integrated fashion. Such tools may remind a patient to take medications, provide tailored decision prompts to help people understand and adhere to treatment regimens for specific conditions or pain therapy, or transmit data to providers.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is the primary sponsor of Project HealthDesign: Rethinking the Power and Potential of Personal Health Records, a $4.4 million initiative to design and test new tools that advance the field of PHR systems over 18 months. CHCF had earlier contributed $600,000 to help launch the RWJF initiative.
Further background on the UCSF project and a brief video are available on the Project HealthDesign site through the External Link below.