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Glossary Terms

What is a Personal Health Record (PHR)?

What is a Personal Health Record (PHR)?

A personal health record (PHR) is an electronic resource that can be accessed by both providers and patients. Patients are able to access a PHR to update and manage health information for themselves and for any person whom they are authorized. 

The purpose of a personal health record is to provide patients with an electronic collection of accurate, quality health data. The difference between a PHR and EHR is substantial. While a PHR is primarily maintained by the patient, an EHR is primarily maintained by a healthcare professional. The EHR can provide a listing of the patient's chart notes, labs, diagnostics, medications, conditions, and past visits.

What Should a PHR Include?

There is currently no standardized process or system when it comes to how a PHR should be managed or what information it should contain. In general, you can expect a PHR to include historical information about the patient with a complete list of known allergies, conditions, and medications that the patient is currently taking. Ideally, the PHR will also be updated to include procedures, surgeries, hospitalizations, and routine visits to other healthcare providers. 

Personal Health Record Privacy and Security

For any health system seeking to enable personal health records for their patients, it is essential that they choose a modern, secure system that supports patient privacy and confidentiality. Regardless of whether a platform claims to be compliant with HIPAA or any other regulations, it is ultimately up to the business to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance. Failure to properly secure PHRs can lead to penalties and fines, along with patient mistrust. 

How TempDev Can Help Your Provide Patients a PHR

TempDev’s team of experienced consultants, developers, and trainers is here to support enhanced accessibility and customized features and templates. This enables you and your patients to have more control over data with improved transparency. 

As part of our streamlining process, we help you implement the Patient Portal, API, and other tools to better support safety, patient engagement, and security. TempDev offers the comprehensive resources and tools you need to ensure compliance from dashboards to automation and workflow redesign. 

Contact us here or by calling us at 888.TEMP.DEV to begin enabling patient engagement with interfacing to PHRs.

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