Last modified: Monday, December 1, 2008
NoMoreClipboard.com to provide personal health record accounts for IU students
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dec. 1, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Health Center has contracted with NoMoreClipboard.com to provide every student on the IU Bloomington campus with a personal health record (PHR) account.
A personal health record is a patient-controlled electronic tool that facilitates the management and exchange of health-related records, including information about medical history, insurance, immunizations, medications and other relevant health data.
"Patients can decide whether to input data themselves, or allow data to flow from their Health Center electronic health record into their PHR. A patient can also choose to allow their PHR account to be accessed by their providers," said Pete Grogg, associate director of the IU Health Center. "It's very much driven by the consumer's control, which we feel is a key element."
The personal health record account will be one part of an IU Health Center service available to Bloomington students through OneStart, Indiana University's Web-based portal that provides a common front door to online services. Students can also use the portal to request Health Center appointments, refill prescriptions and a host of other services coming online in 2009.
Personal health records offer convenience and control in managing patient health information. For example, a student who needs emergency medical treatment while away from campus could use a personal health record to provide a hospital or clinic with instant electronic information about current medications, drug allergies, chronic conditions, and more. In such a situation, the personal health record helps protect the patient by providing physicians with information needed to provide safe and effective treatment.
Students will also be able to send their personal health records directly from NoMoreClipboard.com to hometown physicians, enabling their clinicians to access health information generated from encounters at the IU Health Center.
The Health Center, at 600 N. Jordan Ave., provides comprehensive health services for IU Bloomington students, spouses and dependents age 12 and older, including a medical clinic, a women's clinic, counseling and psychiatric services, clinical laboratory, pharmacy, x-rays, physical therapy, eye clinic, travel/immunizations/ allergy clinic, and health and wellness education.
"There will be a time when everyone will have a personal health record," said William Cast, M.D., the CEO of Fort Wayne-based NoMoreClipboard.com. "This will offer students a bonus that they can carry away from college."
Cast is a member of the Indiana University Board of Trustees. In accordance with Indiana law, he filed a conflict of interest statement with the State Board of Accounts regarding negotiations between the company and Indiana University. In it, he says that his profit from the company's business with IU and related entities is unlikely to exceed $200.
Cast said providing personal health records for students at little or no profit is an opportunity for NoMoreClipboard.com to partner with IU for research and development.
Grogg said the IU Health Center started to explore the possibility of providing electronic personal health records for students more than two years ago. Its research led to NoMoreClipboard.com, a leader in developing national standards to ensure that personal health records are protective of patient privacy and interoperable with relevant provider clinical information systems. A key attribute is establishing secure data flows between a patient's personal health record and providers' clinical systems. NoMoreClipboard.com has established itself nationally through its focus on interoperability and control by patients over their personal health information.
The IU Purchasing Department, on behalf of the IU Health Center, solicited expressions of interest in providing personal health plans for students in July. Of the two vendors responding, NoMoreClipboard was deemed best able to provide the most cost-effective level of functionality and interoperability desired by the IU Health Center.
Grogg said college students, who tend to be computer savvy and comfortable managing information online, are an ideal group to offer the benefits of electronic personal health records. But under the IU agreement, the accounts will only exist when students activate them, and they will include only the information and access that students choose to make available.
"Our job will be to educate students and help them understand the trade-offs between the benefits and the risks involved in owning a personal health record," he said. "Then, it's up to the student to decide if and how they want to use their account."
