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.
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.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
