Online Personal Health Records
AmeriHealth Caritas North Carolina wants you to take an active role in staying healthy. One way to get a head start is to create a personal health record (PHR).
A PHR gives you a place online to track your personal health information. It may include your provider's contact information and the dates of your office visits. You decide who to share your PHR with.
Why should you consider using a PHR?
A PHR can help you:
- Save time and money: Know the dates of your last provider visit. Avoid repeat trips or tests.
- Save energy: No more calling all of your providers to find parts of your health care history. With a PHR, all of your information will be in one easy-to-find place.
- Make better health choices: Have you ever had an allergic reaction? How about a medicine that didn't do the trick? Keep track here. Then update your provider at your next visit.
- Help providers help you: Many PHRs allow you to share information with your provider. Your PHR can let them know if they need to pay special attention to a specific health issue noted in your record.
What do you keep in your PHR?
It's simple. Anything that you believe is important to your health should go in your PHR.
To get you started, here are some ideas:
- Your providers' names and phone numbers
- Allergies
- Chronic diseases or conditions
- Medicines and dosages
- Surgery dates
- Living will or advance directives
- Family health history
- Shot and vaccination dates
- Illness and hospitalization dates
- Dates and results of imaging reports, like X-rays or computed tomography (CT) scans
- Lab results
Choose a PHR
Are you ready to get started? Here are a few easy-to-use PHRs that you may want to try:
- Capzule
Capzule helps you easily store and share your information among multiple providers and clinics. - Healthspek
Healthspek stores your health records and lets you let your providers access them 24/7. You can even get a quick glance of your vitals.
Remember, you don't have to use any of these PHRs. But keep in mind their value in helping you to keep track of your health records.