Product PHR FM

Product Brief - PHR-S FM

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Product Name

Personal Health Record System - Functional Model (PHR-S FM)

Standard Category

Application Functional Specifications

Type

DSTU

Summary

The PHR-S FM defines the set of functions for Personal Health Record (PHR) systems and offers guidelines that facilitate health information exchange among different PHR systems and between PHR and Electronic Health Record systems. The PHR-S FM is was published as a Draft Standard for Trial Use (DSTU) in December 2008. During the period of trial use, consumers can begin requesting standards-based functionality when they select PHR systems for their use, vendors can begin incorporating the model’s requirements into their products and organizations that certify PHR systems can begin using the model’s conformance criteria for certification development and testing purposes. Groups such as the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have already begun using components of the PHR-S FM

Description

The Personal Health Record System Functional Model (PHR-S FM) Draft Standard for Trial Use (DSTU) is the industry’s first draft of a technical standard to specify functionality for PHR systems. It defines the set of functions that may be present in PHR systems, and offers guidelines that facilitate health information among different PHR systems and between PHR and EHR systems. "The PHR-S FM serves as a general model that can be customized to the specific PHR models already in existence, such as stand-alone, web-based, provider-based, payer-based and employer-based systems," said Donald T. Mon, PhD, vice-president of practice leadership, American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and co-chair of the HL7 EHR Work Group. "While the PHR-S FM is general in scope and was developed with an eye towards what is achievable today, it contains the flexibility necessary for product innovation and sets a vision for future PHR systems."

The HL7 EHR Work Group formed a PHR work group in 2005 in response to the growing awareness that personal health records are a valuable tool consumers can use to help them make informed healthcare decisions. While an abundance of PHR systems exist in today’s market, the industry currently lacks a functional standard to which these systems can conform. The creation of a PHR standard is essential because it outlines guidelines for systems to follow, facilitating the exchange of health information among different PHR systems as well as between PHR and EHR systems. HL7’s PHR-S FM has benefited from the input of a broad range of stakeholders.

The model was developed by a work group consisting of consumers, providers, health plans, vendors and health information management and information technology professionals. It is critical that a PHR system standard include criteria that are universal across a variety of PHR system models, yet at the same time, be easily adaptable to encourage product innovation.

As a DSTU, the PHR-S FM allows the industry worldwide to work with a stable standard for up to two years while it is being refined into an American National Standards Institute-accredited version. During the DSTU period, consumers can begin requesting standards-based functionality when they select PHR systems for their use, vendors can begin incorporating the model’s requirements into their products and organizations that certify PHR systems can begin using the model’s conformance criteria for certification development and testing purposes. Groups such as the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have already begun using components of the PHR-S FM.

The PHR-S FM can be applied to specific PHR models (stand-alone, web-based, provider-based, payer-based, or employer-based models). At the same time, the Functional Model is flexible enough to encourage product innovation. The PHR-S FM was developed with broad stakeholder input, resulting in a well-balanced and versatile functional model that can be applied across the continuum of care. Because the model can be adapted to a variety of care settings, a number of profiles are already under development as subsets of the Functional Model.

PHR-S FM Provides Guidance to Health Authorities & Consumers

Based on the PHR-S FM, the Health Authority-Based PHR System Profile represents an effort to derive the capabilities that are relevant for personal health record systems provided by health authorities. It provides a list of capabilities a health authority such as a county or state public health or behavioral health agency,should consider when selecting or developing a PHR-S. The profile also educates consumers regarding what functions they might consider accessing and using if their health authority offers a PHR, and what functions a health authority should request if it is considering selecting a PHR.

Payer-Linked Profile to Support Health Benefits Plans

The Payer-Linked Profile is aimed at developing an HL7 Informative Functional Profile for personal health record (PHR) systems that are used between payers and their members. The profile provides essential general functions and specific conformance criteria that are important to include in any payer-linked system through which a member might access, store and communicate their healthcare information. The model is meant to support all types of health benefits plans including medical, dental, vision, and pharmacy.

Resources

For more information on the EHR-S FM and the HL7 Electronic Health Records Work Group, please visit: www.HL7.org/ehr.

Work Groups

• EHR WG

Education

• See more at http://www.hl7.org/implement/training.cfm

Certification Available

• none

Presentations

From HIMSS 2009

• PHR-S FM and Standard
• Advanced EHR-S FM and Standard: Profiles Against the EHR & PHR S FM