The U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) intends to implement a Web-based personal health record (PHR) system, enabling its patients to access portions of their medical records electronically.
The agency published a notice of requirements for the PHR system in the Federal Register on November 29, 2012.
The IHS currently operates a health information exchange (HIE) linking its healthcare facilities, with information exchanged on a need-to-know basis by directly accessing the official IHS medical record of a patient in its medical, health, and billing records system.
Future plans include the ability for patients to enter information themselves. Additional future functionality will include secure electronic messaging between IHS patients and healthcare providers, as well as the ability to view scheduled appointments and request prescription drug refills.
As the PHR continues to be developed, it will have the ability to register and verify the identity of a personal representative of a patient to provide that individual with user access to the patient's records. Other future system enhancements will enable a PHR to store a patient's self-entered information in a separate database, with the capability to be linked or incorporated into the patient's official EHR upon the patient's request.
Presumably, this would cover the inclusion of radiology reports and diagnostic images transferred from a DICOM CD or DVD. The proposed system specifications that have been published do not specifically address diagnostic imaging. The agency has requested that any comments about its proposed specifications be submitted by December 13, 2012.
