Utility, Value, and Benefits of Contemporary Personal Health Records: Integrative Review and Conceptual Synthesis

Abstract

Background Contemporary personal health record (PHR) technologies offer a useful platform for individuals to maintain a lifelong record of personally reported and clinically sourced data from various points of medical care. Objective This paper presents an integrative review and synthesis of the extant literature on PHRs. This review draws upon multiple lenses of analysis and deliberates value perspectives of PHRs at the product, consumer, and industry levels. Methods Academic databases were searched using multiple keywords related to PHRs for the years 2001-2020. Three research questions were formulated and used as selection criteria in our review of the extant literature relevant to our study. Results We offer a high-level functional utility model of PHR features and functions. We also conceptualize a consumer value framework of PHRs, highlighting the applications of these technologies across various health care delivery activities. Finally, we provide a summary of the benefits of PHRs for various health care constituents, including consumers, providers, payors, and public health agencies. Conclusions PHR products offer a myriad of content-, connectivity-, and collaboration-based features and functions for their users. Although consumers benefit from the tools provided by PHR technologies, their overall value extends across the constituents of the health care delivery chain. Despite advances in technology, our literature review identifies a shortfall in the research addressing consumer value enabled by PHR tools. In addition to scholars and researchers, our literature review and proposed framework may be especially helpful for value analysis committees in the health care sector that are commissioned for the appraisal of innovative health information technologies such as PHRs.

New Ways for Patients to Make Sense of Their EHR Data Using the Discovery Web-application: A Qualitative Evaluation Study

“…Consequently, a patient's EHR data is often distributed among many providers that have none or poor data sharing among them [20]. Patient portals through which patients access the EHR data from their providers are empowering tools [17], however, they are traditionally tied to a single provider [19]. This makes it extremely challenging for the patients to aggregate the EHR data for obtaining a complete picture of their medical history and to make sense of it [16].…”

“…Literature has shown that patient portals like MyChart, My HealthVet, and My Health, brought benefits in the domains of consumer empowerment, patient engagement, and healthcare communication [17], and delivered a sense of trust in and improved collaboration with providers [19]. Patient portals have been able to enhance understanding of medical conditions, simplify and clarify patients' instructions, and provide a greater control over health outcomes, among others [17]. Similarly, they have played a key role in improving patient-provider communication and timely information sharing for clinical decisions [17].…”

“…Patient portals have been able to enhance understanding of medical conditions, simplify and clarify patients' instructions, and provide a greater control over health outcomes, among others [17]. Similarly, they have played a key role in improving patient-provider communication and timely information sharing for clinical decisions [17].…”

Sociotechnical Drivers and Barriers in the Consumer Adoption of Personal Health Records: Empirical Investigation

“…As a consumer-centric technology, a PHR can be defined as “an electronic application through which individuals can access, manage, and share their health information and that of others for whom they are authorized, in a private, secure, and confidential environment” [ 6 ]. In this regard, PHR systems comprise information and communication technologies that can potentially help all types of end users maintain health and wellness [ 7 ], and specifically facilitate patients to manage their ongoing illnesses [ 8 ].…”

“…Our review of the extant literature indicates that patients with chronic illnesses or disabilities, their caregivers, and people caring for older persons are more likely to adopt and use PHR technologies [ 15 , 44 - 46 , 58 - 61 ]. These groups of users will find PHR technologies useful as a communication tool to obtain personalized care from their clinicians [ 7 , 47 - 50 , 59 ] and as an organizational tool to help track patient health conditions, maintain medication lists, write patient diaries, and keep notes from physician consultations [ 7 , 8 , 41 , 49 , 50 , 60 , 62 ].…”