Bacon's NOTES FROM THE NET NOMAD . . .

Scenario. You are on vacation, become ill, and are taken to seek care by your spouse. Since you are too ill to give a complete history, the physician looks to your spouse for information. Your spouse cannot remember the results of some recent lab tests you had or even give an accurate family history, list of allergies, or medication list. Sound possible?

There are a growing number of Internet sites that specialize in patient-controlled medical records. Totally under the control of an individual, these sites provide as complete a medical record as an individual desires readily available from any web browser. These utilities seem very easy to use and their potential benefit to the consumer and healthcare practitioner is significant.

Many of these sites are fee-based. The sites listed below are free to consumers and offer an extensive array of features.

The Personal Health Manager
http://myhealthnotes.com/
The Personal Health Manager provides space for personal demographic information, insurance, advance directives, past history, and current health problems. Links are available to consumer education materials.

PersonalMD.com allows an individual to store basic health history information. In addition, there is a utility to add faxed reports, EKGs, or other documents to the patient database. The personal medical record is available from any Internet-connected computer and web browser. If necessary, the entire medical record can be faxed to a physician using a FAXID and PIN number.

Because they are supported by advertisers, both sites are free. In addition to a medical record area and patient education materials, PersonalMD.com includes communities, shopping for health products and current health news. Both sites subscribe to the Code Principles of the Health on the net Foundation and assure users their medical information will be kept confidential. There Personal Health Manager has a VeriSign Secure Server identification number.

drkoop.com
http://www.drkoop.com
This very popular website features an extensive array of consumer health resources. According to press releases, an online personal medical record is coming soon. You can preview the record at http://tmh.drkoop.com/aboutus/products/pmrtour/index.shtml. One interesting planned feature is a "Report for your Physician" format, with terminology for your healthcare provider, or you may change the view for a more user-friendly report format.

Contributed by William Perry, MA, RN

[Back]

Press Contact for Media:
For PersonalMD.com
Susan Cossette
Susan@PersonalMD.com
925-460-9088