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Bet on videoconferencing growth before PHR ubiquity

Last week, I reported in InformationWeek on a Manhattan Research study showing that 7 percent of U.S. physicians were chatting with patients via videoconference. What the research didn’t say is how many consultations actually take place by videoconferencing. My guess is that it’s minuscule, but virtual visits will soon become commonplace.

According to Australian online healthcare community eHealthSpace, technology vendor Siemens is forecasting that 20 percent of all medical consultations in Australia will take place online by 2020. Much of that growth will come from rural and remote areas of a vast country that’s full of remote, sparsely populated areas.

I find that much more believable than another Siemens prediction that 90 percent of Aussies will have a “personally controlled electronic healthcare record” (whatever that means) by 2020. I’m guessing that videoconferencing with doctors will boom long before there’s widespread adoption of any health record controlled by patients.

 

June 3, 2011 I Written By

I'm a freelance healthcare journalist, specializing in health IT, mobile health, healthcare quality fast $5000 loans-cash.net with bad credit, hospital/physician practice management and healthcare finance.

‘Today’ and Redbook notice mobile PHRs

Regular readers know about my skepticism toward personal health records, given the minuscule level of consumer acceptance. Manhattan Research highlighted the low uptake of PHRs in a study released Jan. 15.

“Despite significant interest in this type of service, only 7 million U.S. adults actually use PHRs,” the company said. “Compelling offerings from vendors ranging from Google, WebMD, and Microsoft to multiple insurers and employers have sparked buzz around PHR in the past year. But for average consumers not motivated by a serious illness, significant barriers such as privacy concerns, lack of understanding, and doubts to PHR efficiency hinder adoption”

At least one consumer publication thinks that might change this year. Last Friday on NBC’s “Today Show,” Redbook health editor Camille Chatterjee talked about the magazine’s 10 health trends for 2009.

Amongst such topics as the Wii Fit and, ahem, vaginal fitness, Chaterjee included online and mobile PHRs, specifically mentioning AllOne Mobile and Microsoft’s HealthVault.

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The PHR discussion starts at about 2:00. You can read the accompanying story here. Also, check out the podcast I did with AllOne Mobile’s Frank Avignone last year.

Meanwhile, HIMSS last week released a new book, “Personal Health Records: The Essential Missing Element in 21st Century Healthcare,” by Dr. Holly Miller, Dr. Bill Yasnoff and Howard Burde, all familiar names in health IT circles.

This follows on the heels of CMS launching a PHR pilot for Medicare beneficiaries in Arizona and Utah.

Are all these developments more hype or do they represent real progress?

January 26, 2009 I Written By

I'm a freelance healthcare journalist, specializing in health IT, mobile health, healthcare quality fast $5000 loans-cash.net with bad credit, hospital/physician practice management and healthcare finance.