Personalizing online health information getting easier

The demand for healthcare is rising faster than the number of professionals, putting an increasing amount of strain on the system both here and elsewhere. But Healthwise, a US not-for-profit health information provider with Canadian connections, has developed an online system that should ease some of the pain. Combining electronic health records and the Internet, the Boise ID-based organization provides users with up-to-date and personalized health information that is delivered to them electronically over the Internet. They can opt to receive the information on either their home PC or a mobile device. The service also incorporates the use of health portals where even more information relevant to them is available. Donald Kemper, CEO and founder of Healthwise says the use of the Internet, the web and mobile devices can serve as critical elements in the healthcare system. "Mouth to ear technology is not sufficient," he says. "Surveys have shown that patients forget half of the information they have heard in the doctor's office once they have left the office." If patients have missed a doctor's appointment, they will be sent prompts from Healthwise asking them about their health status, explains Kemper. This type of service can be particularly relevant to people who have to continually monitor their condition. For people with diabetes for example, they will receive information such as methods of testing their blood sugar and recipes that are appropriate for diabetics. Another example is people at risk of heart attacks receiving reminders to take an aspirin as part of their daily preventative therapy. With a finite number of health professionals in the US and Canadian healthcare systems, technologies can act as a platform where interactive, online conversations relay information to patients and guide care in an appropriate direction in the absence of live health professionals. The backbone of the Healthwise design is an electronic medical record that is seamlessly integrated with a person's unique health information. And this could include orders for new tests, test results, or prescriptions of new medications. "The information is automatically generated through the electronic medical record and is printed out and given to the patient or sent directly to the patient," explains Kemper. While the PC may seem like a more appropriate end-user device on which to access this type of information, Healthwise also delivers content to high-end mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone and through interactive voice response. The organization is exploring a broader strategy of enabling mobile device access in the future. "The concept works across all media," says Kemper. "The idea is to get the right information to the right person at the right time by whatever means of technology. The ability to port all this information, even interactive conversation, in a new age mobile device is real. A good segment of the population is media-enabled." Health information such as charts need to be significantly modified to appear on smaller wireless devices and is a big transition, noted Kemper. Experiences in other countries are also providing a way forward here in Canada. Andalusia, located in the south of Spain, is a region with 90,000 health professionals serving a population of eight million and the use of a variety of technologies, such as the Internet, mobile telephony and SMS, and even digital television to deliver health information is standard healthcare. The system generated 60 million health appointments electronically in 2007, 40 million electronic prescriptions in 2007, and possesses a digital library of 1,200 scientific journals available to all health professionals. Content covering a broad range of topics is also available to consumers. Pablo Rivero, an economist and deputy minister of health innovation in Andalusia, says the experience there is an interactive one. He was also a former senior advisor on health innovation for the Calgary health region. Serving as a model for advanced health informatics in regional health systems in Canada, Andalusia signed a memorandum of understanding with the Calgary health region in 2006. The collaboration, which has been in effect since August 2007, will seek to encourage electronic records management, promote the development of multiple channels of health information, such as SMS and VoIP, to enhance self-care, and to support the use of best practices, explained Rivero. The focus of the collaboration to date has been on enhancing diabetic care to the elderly. A report on the results of the collaboration is expected later this year. "This unifies and customizes information delivery to the citizen," says Rivero, referring to the management information system that the collaborative experience is using.

Personalizing online health information getting easier

News | 05/12/2008 4:35 pm EDT

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