Insurers create PHR model

Perhaps in counter to a recent power grab by large employers, health insurance industry trade group America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association of America have released their own model for a portable personal health record. The new standards call for creating a Web-based personal health records--maintained, not surprisingly, by insurers--that are transportable from one insurance plan to another with little trouble. The records will include patient histories, medications, immunizations, allergies, risks and plans of care. I'm not sure, however, how this will gibe with the plans of Intel, Wal-Mart and a handful of other international firms that recently announced their own personal health record scheme, controlled, of course, by their computer guys and systems. Let the data wars begin!

For more about AHIP's plans:
- read this AHIP press release
- read this United Press International article

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