Employers Invest in Personal Health Records

Several of America's largest corporations have banded together to fund development of a Web-based framework dubbed "Dossia" that will allow patients to build and maintain their own portable, personal health records.

The project was unveiled at a Dec. 6 press event at the National Press Club in Washington. Academy EVP Douglas Henley, M.D., participated as a member of a panel of speakers.

Five companies plan to roll out Dossia to more than 2.5 million employees, dependents and retirees beginning in 2007. The founding five -- Applied Materials Inc., BP America Inc., Pitney Bowes, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Intel Corp. -- are funding the initial development with "seven-figure donations," said event host Craig Barrett, Ph.D., chair of the Intel Board of Directors.

Barrett said employers are picking up a sizable portion of the health care costs for their employees -- an average of $28,000 per employee per year -- and yet corporate America has been "AWOL" in discussions about health care costs.

"If we're paying half the bill, we want to get a more effective return on that investment," he said.

Think of Dossia as a database capability rather than a product, said Barrett. Individuals input the information, own the information and can share it if they choose to do so.

Barrett asked Henley if physicians would buy into the concept.

"We think our members will value this movement and this program," said Henley. Family physicians integrate and coordinate care throughout a patient's lifetime, and they provide a medical home, he said. "Having a standard, portable and interoperable patient record that interacts and connects with an electronic health record is good for patients and physicians."

Henley praised the program's use of the continuity-of-care record standard, or CCR, an approved standard that the Academy supports. But he cautioned that electronic health records alone will not provide the uptick in health care quality and cost efficiency that corporate America is seeking.

The real improvement will come when every patient has a family physician or other primary care provider "and a medical home that is empowered by health information technology," said Henley.

Dossia's development is in the hands of Omnimedix Institute, a Portland-based nonprofit organization, and an independent third party serves as the system's host. The setup creates a barrier between the data and outside parties, thus eliminating privacy concerns that employers or health plans could access individuals' personal health records.

During a question-and-answer session, representatives of the companies involved with the Dossia project elaborated on how Dossia would benefit both employers and employees.

"This is all about giving consumers their own information and giving them control over it," said Linda Dillman, Wal-Mart's EVP of risk management, benefits and sustainability. "I don't think there's anybody more effective in driving change in this country than the consumer base."

Pitney Bowes Chairman and CEO Mike Critelli said, "We look at this not as a cost reduction but as an investment in health." More importantly, he said, the personal, portable health record would "put the power in the hands of the individual" and make people accountable for their own health.

Responding to a question about employee interest, Patricia Miller, BP America's VP of human resources for the Western Hemisphere, said, "When employees see the power (of this system), we believe there will be a groundswell of interest." Health care costs will be reduced, and those savings will show up in a variety of ways, including a reduction in the number of medical errors and the elimination of duplicate -- even triplicate and quadruplicate -- medical testing, she said.

A last-minute scheduling change prevented HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt from attending the press event, but Barrett read aloud Leavitt's letter of support. "Better management of health information translates to better health care for patients," said Leavitt. Interoperable records will allow for the collection of price and quality information that consumers can use "to assess the value of the care they purchase and help them select cost-effective care," he said.