South Carolina Testing New Online Medicare PHR (Personal Health Records) Program. Is anyone using it?

In May 2008 the CMMS (The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) began a pilot program limited to just South Carolina Medicare beneficiaries. The program  allows SC beneficiaries to access their personal health records through the internet.

Sounds like a great program, but are any Medicare beneficiaries using it?

The program is called MyPHRSC and the website for access to it can be found online here.

According to a Government Health IT story " The program gives thousands of Medicare beneficiaries in South Carolina access to a PHR (personal health record- ed.) populated with their hospital and physician claims information. Information on prescription drugs will not be provided, but PHR users can enter information on their prescription and over-the-counter medications."

It would seem that placing an individual Medical records in a central depository could be very helpful to patients and health care providers. For example, I recently met with a client concerning a seperate Medicare issue. He pulled out a stack of medical records that he carries with him to every doctor visit (which were frequent and among various specialists), and now, to his attorney's office. Having those records online, instead of toting them around, seems like a good idea.                                                                    READ MORE BELOW

There is a hesitancy to use this program among the few older clients that I have talked to. First, when I ask whether anyone uses the program, the most frequent response is..what program?. The State Medicare Office that is sponsoring this program is not doing a very good job of diseminating information about it. Second, when made aware of the program, the comment usually is, but how does this benefit me?  Good question. Third, there is a lack of trust in the program. There is skepticism that medical records will NOT remain private.

The state sponsors of this program should do more to publicize it. Unless more people know of the program it will remain underused. And, even if it is publicized and can be shown as beneficial to all, assurances of privacy must be addressed so people will feel comfortable using it.

If anyone that has used the MyPHR program and would like to share experiences with it, please either add a comment or send an email to:  BTreacy719@aol.com