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HealthVault Allows Customers To Store Medical Records Online

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 October 2008, 14:39 CDT

Health insurer Aetna Inc. is teaming with Microsoft Corp. to give its customers an Internet-based vault for storing medical records they can access even if they change jobs or leave their health plan.

Starting next month, Aetna, based in Hartford, Conn. will allow some customers to transfer electronic personal health records to Microsoft's HealthVault, a platform that lets care providers look at the information with patient consent.

Aetna President Mark Bertolini said the vault will give the insurer's customers "continuous access" to their claims information and anything the patient wants to add, like clinical data or past medical records.

The insurer will have several advantages in the move, including improved communication with providers.

"We can avoid duplicate testing, we can avoid mistakes that occur as a result of not understanding the member's complete condition," he said. "Because we don't have a national health information technology network, this will stand as a first-generation of that kind of capability."

Several companies are now looking into the storing and sharing of medical records.

A new Web site earlier this year by Google Inc. allows people to store health information such as doctor, hospital and pharmacy records in one place. IBM and Duke University also have created a Web site that allows people to pay medical bills, schedule doctor appointments and store medical records, among other things.

A year ago, Microsoft launched the free HealthVault Web site. About 40 companies currently allow customers to store information on it, a list that includes hospitals and CVS Caremark's Minute Clinic. According to Microsoft, Aetna would be the first health benefits company to do so.

Peter Neupert, vice president for Microsoft's Health Solutions Group, said the customer has complete control over who looks at the data and what information they see. He said doctors and providers, even Microsoft officials, will not be able to access the information unless they receive permission first from the patient.

"This is simply a place for you, like a safe deposit box, to store your data that is yours and yours alone to decide how you want to use it," he said.

Information will also be protected under the new "Connecting for Health" guidelines devised earlier this year by Microsoft, Google and others that wanted to set ground rules for keeping sensitive information private.

Consumers are wary of the protection offered for electronic medical records, experts say.  But Neupert said Microsoft is "very confident and vigilant about providing security for this data."

Aetna makes electronic personal health records available to about 6 million customers, and the fee for that is part of their premium. But the insurer plans to charge nothing for the HealthVault transfer. The insurer expects to recover costs tied to setting up the agreement.

Bertolini said right now, they spend tens of millions of dollars answering the phone telling providers if a person is eligible or what their benefits are.

"With the availability of this information, those calls go away."

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On the Net:

• Aetna Inc.
• Microsoft Corp.
• HealthVault

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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