Patient Passports and EHR's

Emergencies occur and you find yourself in an emergency room or assisting a family member and the questions arise regarding prior care, pre existing conditions, current conditions, current medications, directives of the patient. In the midst of an emergency it can be very difficult to recall the comprehensive medical history for yourself or the patient.

Patient Passports

The National Quality Forum (NHQ) is a non profit organization committed to all aspects of a patients’ care including the development of the patient passport which is an EHR designed so that all participants of a patient’s care has access to a patient’s medical history in an effort to provide the best care possible.

The NHQ modeled the patient passport after the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and the UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital. Many hospitals and health care organizations have or are creating their own version of the patient passport to share information across multiple organizations or approved family members or patient representatives.

Difference Between An EMR and EHR

In many ways the electronic medical record (EMR) is the precursor to the electronic health record (EHR) which is the gold standard for today. EMR’s are in effect a digital record for a patient in one physician’s office and is essentially the same information you give the physician on paper as well as what has occurred in your treatment at that particular physician’s office.

One of the problems with the EMR is the lack of portability and transfer of your medical information (if desired) to different physicians, hospitals or emergency treatment facilities.

The EHR is designed to be a portable digital record of your entire medical history which can travel with you. The benefit of an EHR is the ease of access for all physicians or hospitals to your complete medical history. The history would include laboratory results, emergency or urgent care visits, routine results such as blood pressure readings, bloodwork, diagnostic tests. The intent is present the full picture for a physician wherever you may be treated whether for routine monitoring or emergency treatment.

The EHR is a digital record which is easily accessed by yourself or a physician or healthcare provider with your consent.

Security Of The EHR

As with any digital database whether it be a credit card database or EHR it is vital your personal information is secure and protected. Carefully read and scrutinize the privacy policy and the security policy of where you create the digital record.

Planetree Patient Preference Passport

Planetree is an example of a non profit which provides patient solutions to its’ hospital membership. The Patient Preferences Passport has been developed with NHQ and is being piloted at hospitals within its’ membership. Detailed questions regarding all aspects of a patients care and their preferences; the intent that healthcare records are included along with all questions, preferences and patient concerns.The integrated passport is available in hard copy form or on the free app called the Doctella which is available on the Google store and Apple store.