Parents Using PHRs More Likely To Get In All Well-Child Visits

Parents using an integrated PHR were more likely to take their young children to all recommended well-child visits, according to a Kaiser Permanente study reported in iHealthBeat.

More than 4.3 million members are registered to use Kaiser’s PHR, My Health Manager, on kp.org. During the first half of this year, patients have viewed 17.5 million lab test results, sent 7.4 million secure e-mails to their care providers, refilled 7.1 million prescriptions and scheduled 1.8 million appointments, reports News-Medical.

The study, which was published in The Journal of Pediatrics, analyzed data on more than 7,000 children ages zero to two living in the Northwest U.S. and Hawaii.  The children were enrolled in KP health plans between January 2007 and July 2011.  To determine the appropriate number of well-child visits, researchers  used performance measures listed in the 2010 Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set that state that children aged 0 to 15 months should attend at least six well-care visits, News-Medical says.

The study found that in the Northwest region, children whose parents used the Kaiser PHR during the study period were 2.5 times more likely to bring their child to the recommended number of well-child visits. These children were also 1.2 times more likely to get all of their immunizations.

In Hawaii, meanwhile, children in this group were two times more likely to get all well-child visits, but results related to immunizations were statistically insignficant, iHealthBeat notes.

While it may be too soon to call it a trend, this is one of a growing number of projects which use the PHR concept to help patients engage and take responsibility for their health behaviors.

For example, this summer Howard University Hospital rolled out a mobile PHR for pre-diabetic young adults designed to help them take control of their health.  Howard has given the young adults in the program — aged 18 to 24 and diagnosed with pre-diabetes — access to a mobile version of the NoMoreClipboard PHR for their smartphones.

The program sends a variety of text messages to the young adults targeted by this intervention, which include reminders to interact with the PHR. The program participants are also given a FitBit Zip wireless activity tracker which keeps track of steps taken, distance covered and calories burned per user.

Projects like these, which help patients make the PHR the fulcrum point for better health, are a smart way of using the technology. I expect to see a great deal more of this “PHR=patient engagement=better health” model going forward.