We have just made available a guide to selecting an On-Line Personal Health Record. In light of the potential worsening of the Swine Flu (H1N1) situation, we believe it’s vital that every household has a Personal Health Record so that family medical and health records are in one safe and accessible place.
Selecting An On-Line PHR
July 26th, 2009Swine Flu May Affect 40% of Americans
July 24th, 2009U.S. health officials say swine flu could strike up to 40 percent of Americans over the next two years and as many as several hundred thousand could die if a vaccine campaign and other measures aren’t successful.
These are estimates from the Centers for Diease Control. As many as 100,000 Americans could die from the the swine flu, also called the H1N1 flu, if no vaccine is found and other mitigation efforts fail.
Once again, this brings to light the importance of having an online Personal Health Record where you can store and manage your family’s medical records – the actual copies of immunization records, lab reports, test results and more – from multiple doctors and other health providers.
President Obama Warns Swine Flu Will Return in Fall
July 10th, 2009President Obama on Thursday warned Americans to be ready for an aggressive return of the Swine Flu in the fall. “The potential for a significant outbreak in the fall is looming,” he said during the White House Influenza Preparedness summer.
It was reported that vaccinations would be begin in October – but only if tests to take place in August prove that a vaccine is effective against Swine Flu and the H1N1 strain. And even if that vaccine was proven successful, officials indicated that there only would enough vaccination doses ready for a portion of the U.S. population.
The best way you and your family can be prepared to deal with this impending outbreak is to have copies of your personal health and medical records stored securely online. A MyMedicalRecords.com Personal Health Record allows you to store your information safely and securely on-line so it is accessible when you need it. You can share information with any doctor which is important because it is likely treatment for the Swine Flu, if there is no vaccine, will involve possibly seeing multiple doctors.
Swine Flu Cases Now Number More Than 5,000
May 19th, 2009The Centers for Disease Control reported on their website this morning that the number of Swine Flu (H1N1) case in the United States had risen above 5000, with 5 confirmed deaths now reported.
Again, it is important to note that no single vaccine treatment for this malady has yet been identified. Treatment with multiple drugs, which is the likely treatment course, creates the potential for dangerous interactions for those individuals who already are taking other prescriptions. Having your prescription information consolidated into your Personal Health Record can help alleviate the risk of potential drug interactions for you and any member of your family who might require treatment.
A Personal Health Record, particularly one that allows you to easily store, file and manage paper records you get from your doctors, is more essential than ever.
Swine Flu (H1N1Flu) Points Out Need for Personal Health Records
April 30th, 2009With the increasing likelihood that the Swine Flu (H1N1 Flu) outbreak will escalate into a pandemic (as of today there already are 109 confirmed cases and 1 death in the United States), it’s more important than ever that you have your, and your family’s stored securely online. It’s especially crucial now in the event that you need to be treated for flu-like symptoms. There is no vaccination for the Swine Virus currently developed and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) indicated that anyone being treated would likely need a combination of anti-viral drugs.
You can set up a MyMedicalRecords.com PHR in 2 minutes.
Not only does a MyMedicalRecords.com PHR hold health and medical records for up to 10 people in the family, it comes a with a variety of other useful features.
If you are being treated with multiple medications, the Drug Reference in your MyMedicalRecords.com account becomes especially valuable because you can easily check for any interactions between prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications.
What’s more, the calendar feature that comes with your account can be a useful tool to remind you of doctor appointment or when it’s time to pick up a prescription.
And your MyMedicalRecords.com account can accept information from any of your family’s providers, whether it’s your primary physician or any specialists.
You can find more information by visiting www.mymedicalrecords.com.
MMR Exhibits At HIMSS 2009
April 9th, 2009We exhibited our MyMedicalRecords.com PHR and MMR Pro doctor products at Health Information Management and Systems Society (HIMSS) show in Chicago. We were very excited about the response to our product offerings and had a tremendous amount of interest.
We also were very honored that former Congressman and House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, who is on our company’s Board of Advisors, spent time at our booth. Mr. Gephardt gave an interesting video interview on health and Personal Health Records to Modern Healthcare Magazine. You can view the video at:
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20090407/VIDEO/304079986/-1
Our Chairman and CEO, Robert Lorsch, was interviewed by EHR TV:
Paper Based Records Are Not Going Away
April 1st, 2009With all of the talk about Electronic Medical Records, it’s easy to forget that the vast majority of American doctors still are using paper-based records for lab reports, patient charts, radiology reports, medical histories and other important patient information. In fact, an article from Harvard Business Online reported that only 17% of U.S. doctors have adopted Electronic Medical Records and – among practices with with four or less physicians – the adoption rate is just 9%. Paper-based records are going to be around for quite awhile.
So it’s important, when you choose a Personal Health Record (PHR), to be able to effectively store and manage paper-based records from your provider. With MyMedicalRecords.com you can have your providers easily fax records into your account and then you store and manage them in a customized personal filing cabinet you create. The benefit is that you store the complete lab report, not just the values. And you easily can print out records to take with if you are seeing additional doctors along your continuum of care.
Do You Really Know What’s In Your Medicine Cabinet?
March 13th, 2009
MyMedicalRecords.com can help you avoid drug interactions.
Think about the number of different medications your family members take. You may have a prescription from one doctor and a second prescription from another. On top of that you might be using over-the-counter medications, such as pain relievers, and maybe even trying to boost your health with herbal supplements.
The problem is that mixing medications without understanding the potential interactions between them can be harmful to your health.
In fact, a recent study by the Archives of Internal Medicine found a shocking 564 percent increase in at-home medication fatalities using prescription and over-the-counter drugs. This is compared to 5 percent in the clinical setting. The study cited the tragic death last year of Oscar-winning actor Health Ledger, who died from an accidental prescription-drug overdose in his New York City apartment.
According to David P. Phillips of the University of California at San Diego, the cited study’s principal author,
“The amount of medical supervision is going down and the amount of responsibility put on the patient’s shoulders
is going up.”
So what can you do to protect yourself and your family from potentially tragic drug-related interactions? The “Drug Interaction” tool built right into your MyMedicalRecords.com account is one great answer.
The Drug Interaction reference lets you quickly check for interactions on more than 20,000 prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and even some herbal supplements. You can easily access the feature from within the My Prescriptions section of your account and also from the Home page: www.mymedicalrecords.com. In fact, if you’re not yet a MMR subscriber you can take advantage of a special free trial offer.