Listen to this episode of Moms Gone Geek.

In this episode we pay a follow up visit to a previous show topic: Digital Medical Records, also known as your PHR or Personal Health Record. We interview Lygeia Ricciardi from Clear Voice Consulting, LLC in Washington, DC about this increasingly interesting and timely topic. She has some fantastic insight and we encourage you to tune in to this episode and share with us your thoughts, experiences and ideas regarding digital medical records and the products that best serve you and your health as a PHR.

Follow Lygeia on Twitter

Lygeia also writes for Project Health Design

Topics

• What a PHR is, where and how you can establish a PHR such as health plans, health systems, employers and what functions they might have

• The relationship between EMRs (or EHRs) and PHRs and how in the future they will be increasingly linked together in ways that benefit patients and doctors alike

• How to choose a PHR, what to look for

• Medical Identity Theft - what can you do to protect yourself? Learn about an "audit trail"

• Potential benefits of PHRs and electronic health information like research, public health, quality improvement, genetic mapping

• The US Government's role in implementation and accountability regarding digital medical records

• The future of remote health care using technology like video conferencing or mobile applications

• Aggregating medical data and the implications and benefits it can provide

• The affect of policies, politics and regulations on Health Information Technology

Tips

• Ask your health care provider if or what kind of access you may already have to your information that might be able to be ported into a PHR of your choice

• If you're looking for a new doctor, ask ahead of time if they use digital medical records and if you might be able to use any of that information in your own PHR

Example: American Academy of Pediatrics Immunization Schedules

• Be sure to consider portability of the data you input into a PHR; Can you take it with you or move it somewhere else?

Some PHRs To Check Out

Mayo Clinic Health Manager powered by Microsoft HealthVault

My PHR

23andMe - At-Home DNA Testing service

Google Health