KLAS Report: Nine Out of Ten Providers Report Interest in Implementing a Personal Health Record

OREM, UT, December 14, 2010 (Press-News.org) Implementing a personal health record (PHR) is a priority for more healthcare organizations than expected. Close to 90 percent of interviewed providers are actively planning for or piloting a PHR solution, according to a new KLAS report.

For "Personal Health Records (PHRs): Strategies Take Shape", KLAS discussed PHRs with 120 acute-care organizations representing over 750 hospitals. These providers reported investigating a multitude of PHR options, including those from their EMR or HIE vendors.

"A lot of hospitals are already sending patient data to their HIE portals or EMR systems. Expanding these relationships seems a natural choice to many providers, particularly Cerner, Epic, and McKesson customers," commented Kent Gale, founder of KLAS and author of the report. "Providers are trying to decide whether it makes more sense to follow this route, or choose a free-standing, no-cost solution. Many will end up with a mix of both strategies."

According to the report, many respondents expressed more interest in free, plug-and-play applications, because they can brand them as their own at no cost.

"Many providers don't see a need to purchase their vendor's PHR when they can get a Microsoft or Google application for free," Gale said. "Microsoft has proactively marketed HealthVault to healthcare organizations as a means of helping doctors and patients reach a higher level of communication. Every health system executive has heard of Google, and many are attracted to its simple plug-and-play nature."

In "Personal Health Records (PHRs): Strategies Take Shape", Microsoft was considered most often, in 31 percent of deals, followed by Epic (30 percent) and Google (23 percent). The report also highlights Cerner, eClinicalWorks, GE, MEDITECH, MEDSEEK, NextGen, and RelayHealth.

For more information about the PHR market, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of participating vendors, "Personal Health Records (PHRs): Strategies Take Shape" is available to healthcare providers online for a significant discount off the standard retail price. To purchase the full report, healthcare providers and vendors can visit www.KLASresearch.com/reports.

KLAS is a research firm specializing in monitoring and reporting the performance of healthcare vendors. KLAS' mission is to improve delivery, by independently measuring vendor performance for the benefit of our healthcare provider partners, consultants, investors, and vendors. Working together with executives from over 4500 hospitals and over 2500 clinics, KLAS delivers timely reports, trends, and statistics, which provide a solid overview of vendor performance in the industry. KLAS measures performance of software, professional services, and medical equipment vendors. For more information, go to www.KLASresearch.com, email marketing@KLASresearch.com, or call 1-800-920-4109 to speak with a KLAS representative. Follow KLAS on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KLASresearch.