PHR (Personal Health Record)
Public and Private Trends in US Healthcare IT
Munehiko Eto
Senior Associate, Economic Research Center
April 20, 2009 (Monday)
On February 15, 2009, a US$787 billion economic stimulus package was passed by the US House and Senate. Roughly US$21 billion of the short-term stimulus package, committed within President Obama’s first month in office, is expected to be invested in healthcare IT. From a long-term perspective, this has laid a foundation towards healthcare reform.
It is estimated that 15% of medical testing and diagnosis in the US is wasted or duplicative. Such waste can be reduced by sharing medical information among hospitals through healthcare IT. Digitization is also expected to prevent medical accidents, which are largely due to hand-written medical records and prescriptions. Many Americans suffer from serious chronic diseases, and household health management is being promoted by using IT to connect hospitals and clinics with families to prevent and control the severity of these diseases.
After much debate, supplementary income payments totaling US$20 billion were approved by the Japanese Diet. Instead of these politically driven “handouts,” the valuable funds should be put towards areas of public dissatisfaction and concern such as healthcare, nursing care, and education.
Private companies such as Google and Microsoft have entered the healthcare IT fray, and are competing over the standardization of PHRs (personal health records). In the past, healthcare IT has been advanced with the goal of improving the efficiency of healthcare providers (medical institutions and insurers), and medical information was managed by these providers. In contrast, PHRs collect, save, and use healthcare-related information so that individuals (≒patients) can improve their quality of life.
PHRs allow individuals to hold and manage medical information, marking a shift in healthcare IT from provider-centric to patient-centric. This has the potential to significantly transform the nature of healthcare itself. As discussion continues in Japan on the introduction of electronic PO Boxes, a watchful eye should be kept on trends in the US.
