For many of us, it’s easy to feel like a passive participant in our health. When we go to the doctor, we often have no idea why we were prescribed a certain medication. We’re unsure what we were just diagnosed with, and often never see the lab results our doctor ordered.
There is also broad consensus that something is broken in American healthcare. 34% of adults are obese, 1 in 3 adults have hypertension, and 25 million Americans are diabetic. Healthcare costs consume over 17% of GDP.
When we talk about healthcare reform, we talk about fixing hospitals, pricing and insurance companies. But the ultimate goal is always patient health. Healthier patients means less illness. Less illness means decreased costs. More importantly, healthier patients means healthier people.
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73% of U.S. adults have researched health information online and 86% of patients that say they want to take a more proactive role in managing their care. But many of us don’t have the clarity and resources we need to do this. We try to keep up with our doctors’ advice, our past medical history, our medications, insurance bills, fitness devices, and more – but there isn’t a central place to keep track of all your health information and get your questions answered as they arise.
Personal Health Records (PHRs) can change this. The ideal PHR will allow you to securely view your lab results, medications, and other details about your medical visits, all fully confidential between you and your doctor. An intelligent PHR will ultimately be your single health destination, where you can see your whole health history, get instant advice from doctors and experts, track wellness goals, and monitor key health signs. A patient’s PHR also needs to interact seamlessly with their doctor’s electronic health records (EHRs); doctors should be working alongside their patients as a partner in their health, not an aloof authority on what is right and wrong with them.
Digital health companies should be working towards a world where everyone can have access to their health information the moment they need it, with the best doctors in the country ready to answer their questions. With Patient Fusion, that world is becoming a reality.
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Ryan is the founder, chairman and CEO of Practice Fusion. He founded the company in 2005 and has grown it into the largest physician-patient community in the US. Serving over 80 million patients, the platform connects doctors, pharmacies, labs, and imaging centers to solve healthcare’s biggest challenges. Under Ryan’s leadership, the company has raised $134 million in capital from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Orbimed Advisors, Deerfield Management Company, Artis Ventures, Founders Fund, Felicis Ventures and Band of Angels to fuel its rapid growth.
Ryan has spoken on health technology and innovation at Microsoft, Stanford, UC Berkeley, HIMSS, SDForum and Commonwealth Club events and has been quoted by the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Wired as an innovative leader in the sector. He has been recognized as one of the Top 40 under 40 by the San Francisco Business Times, Silicon Valley 100 by Business Insider and was named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.
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