Online Personal Health Records

AmeriHealth Caritas Ohio 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 doctor’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 doctor visit. Avoid repeat trips or tests.
  • Save energy: No more calling all of your doctors 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 doctor at your next visit.
  • Help doctors help you: Many PHRs allow you to share information with your doctor. 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 doctors’ 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:

  • Healthspek
    Healthspek stores your health records and lets you let your doctors access them 24/7. You can even get a quick glance of your vitals.
  • MyMedWall 
    MyMedWall uses social network-like features to help you share your info with doctors. You can even search for different providers or join support groups.

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.

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