Health Insurance Net

SAN FRANCISCO There are a large number of well known companies today that are offering opportunities for individuals to help them to maintain control of their personal health-care information. They are also making it possible for people to make better use of this information.

For example, it was last fall that the giant software company Microsoft released a platform directed toward consumers, with regard to personal health records, which they called, HealthVault. The leading Internet search engine, Google is about to follow soon with the introduction of its version which it calls Google Health. These PHRs or personal health records are now being offered by close to 200 companies.

The health insurance company Aetna, announced earlier this month that it is adding a sophisticated search tool to its secure member Web site. This tool can find multiple resources, one example being relevant discount programs as well as a list of local doctors. This is all based on the search terms that the members enter. The company also announced that these changes will act as a complement to Aetna's new personal health records service for its members as well.

Those health consumers that are intent on collecting, storing, and being able to selectively share their health-care information digitally while greet these developments as being good news. It also will allow them to coordinate their health records with their doctors in addition to being able to enter medical questions into an intuitive online search engine.

But the main issue accompanying these changes is the question of personal privacy. Those health consumers who are entering personal and sensitive medical information into the PHR system are looking for assurance that these data will not be exposed in a manner that might be embarrassing to them or might possibly hurt their opportunity to secure a job or be included in a group health plan, or get health insurance at all. When it comes to protecting consumers' PHRs, legal experts are saying that even though many companies are promising confidentiality, and even though some states have laws that have established additional privacy standards, there are still many questions regarding this matter.

Nobody is really questioning the advantages of such a system of data gathering and retrieval, that can for instance alert consumers with regard to possible drug interactions on up to having the capacity to share X-rays and other diagnostic tests with doctors at different locations.