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PHR-Personal Health Records: Meaning, Benefits, and Why ABHA PHR?

TeamAckoFeb 27, 2024

A Personal Health Record (PHR) is a user-maintained digital resource for tracking and managing personal health data. It includes medical history, treatments, medications, allergies, and test results, offering a comprehensive overview of individual health status and history. This tool empowers individuals to actively participate in their healthcare management

It's application helps users link and share personal health records with various healthcare providers. Healthcare applications such as the Arogya Setu app and Driefcase are collaborating with Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission or ABDM to provide PHR applications that comply with ABDM standards.

The Partner Section of this website has the full list. Given this, patients can now manage and preserve their health data with the help of the ABHA Health Data Application by ABDM (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission).

Since each person’s health record is private, access to it requires an express, informed agreement. Moreover, PHR apps, like the ABHA Health Records Application, give users total control over what data is gathered, how/with whom it is shared, why it is shared, and how it is processed.

Contents

What Are Personal Health Records (PHR)?
Advantages of Personal Health Records
Why is ABHA PHR Better Than Other PHRs?
- Other PHRs:
- ABHA PHR:
Why ABHA PHR
Final Words
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What Are Personal Health Records (PHR)?

Electronic health records (EHR), known as personal health records, allow people to store information about their care, including health data entered by their physicians. Every one of your personal health records (PHR) has an address associated with it.

A PHR gives an accurate and thorough online overview of a person’s medical history. Also, one can use PHR addresses to access patient-reported data, lab findings, and additional data from gadgets like wireless electronic scales and passively collected smartphones. So, an example of a typical personal health record might be:

Allergies of the patient
Information about vaccines
Details regarding any treatments or surgeries carried out
Details concerning doctor appointments
Family medical background
A summary of all prescriptions and pharmaceuticals taken Hospitalization records
Details regarding illnesses or ailments

Advantages of Personal Health Records

Enhances Patient Medical Information Accessibility

PHRs are useful for clinicians. Patients can upload data to the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) of their providers via PHRs. Giving doctors access to more constantly updated information may increase care efficiency by helping them make better treatment decisions. Additionally, you can link your PHR address to insurance plans and public health initiatives like the Digital Health Incentive Scheme (DHIS).

Facilitates Collaboration Amongst Various Providers

Together with healthcare professionals, it helps monitor patient ailments to encourage early treatments. Furthermore, PHRs facilitate constant communication, which helps physicians and other healthcare professionals better care for their patients.

Facilitates Self-Management

Having access to medical records makes it simpler and easier for patients to manage their health. So, it eliminates their hassle to monitor the course of their illness. With PHR, patients can effortlessly manage their health records without any physical paperwork. And all they have to do is download their ABHA card, which contains their PHR address and health ID number.

Cuts Expenses of Administration

Maintaining physical paperwork is not only a burden but also a time-consuming chore for healthcare organizations and their staff. This often requires more manual labor and staffing, which increases the administration cost. This is where PHR comes in, eliminating the stress of handling physical paperwork of patients. It simplifies things for healthcare organizations and cuts down their administration expenses.

Enhances Patient Participation

Patients can access best medical practices and various health information sources through their PHRs. It stores all of a patient’s medical records in one place rather than on paper records in several physician offices. Consequently, when receiving a diagnosis, patients can obtain test results seamlessly, communicate their concerns to their physicians, and exchange information with other patients exhibiting the same symptoms. [Source]

Updates The Patient About The State Of Medicine

PHRs are useful tools for analyzing a person’s health profile, seeing potential health risks, and identifying areas for improvement based on gaps in current medical care plans, drug interactions, and medical mistake detection.

Improved Patient-Doctor Communication

It reduces the time spent on phone conversations and in-person meetings by removing communication barriers. Also, it helps patients and clinicians to exchange paperwork on time. So, it can be simpler for patients and caregivers to report problems, ask queries, make appointments, obtain refills and referrals, and ask questions when there is better communication.

Saves Time for a Quicker Reaction

The availability of healthcare data through PHR facilitates prompt responses from healthcare professionals. Researching the patient’s medical history may take less time. Also, a PHR can deliver vital information for an accurate diagnosis or course of therapy quickly.

Why is ABHA PHR Better Than Other PHRs?

When compared to other PHRs available in today’s healthcare sector, ABHA stands out as a pioneer. Here we have explained how.

Other PHRs:

There is a wide range of open-source PHR applications that are in use.
Most of these applications rely on centralized storage models instead of federated architectures.
They have no mechanism for different care provider groups to exchange and access health records.
Also, they lack a feature to record and display a longitudinal perspective of the patient’s medical history.

ABHA PHR:

The citizen-facing PHR application ABDM PHR lets users access a longitudinal record from several medical providers.
It offers a federated architecture-based system for managing and exchanging health records.
Also, the ABDM PHR’s consent function will offer the ability to govern consent for data sharing.

Why ABHA PHR

It allows users to access a longitudinal record that includes test results, treatment information, discharge summaries, and all other health-related data. Also, it assists Indians by:

creating an ABHA number and/or ABHA number;
finding health information;
connecting health records to a specific PHR (ABHA address);
viewing health records;
managing consents;
choosing a health locker to store records and
looking for doctors or facilities.

Final Words

PHRs are essential data sources that the patient, authorized family members, and physicians can access. This results in a significant advancement in efficiency and the unification and integration of healthcare.

Moreover, each person gets a PHR address and digital health ID to facilitate access to their PHRs. To engage in India’s digital healthcare ecosystem, individuals can create an Ayushman Bharat Health Account, which allows them to store and share medical records and obtain an ABHA health ID card.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are the answers to some of the common questions about PHR

What is PHR in health ID in India?

A PHR in India is a form of electronic record comprising health data of Indian citizens. The PHR app enables its users to store, share, manage, and control their health-related information.

What is the PHR address in ABDM?

When registering with the ABHA, an ABHA number and an ABHA address are generated. The ABHA address, which is used to log into the Health Information Exchange and consent management, is a self-declared username similar to the email address.

How can I generate a PHR address?

To generate a PHR address in your ABHA ID, you must:

Download the ABHA app.
Use a Government-issued ID card and enter all details accordingly.
Enter a phone number (preferably the one registered to your Aadhaar) and request for OTP.
Complete the OTP verification and the platform will generate your PHR address.