An Eye on the Future: MTs as PHR Facilitators

With the rapid evolution of technology and a consumer-driven push to put patients and caregivers in the driver’s seat of their own healthcare decisions, personal health records (PHRs) are fast becoming a documentation option of choice for the American patient. It is a fundamental goal of AHDI to retool and prepare our workforce for emerging roles and contributions to healthcare delivery. Among those potential roles for MTs would be assisting patients with the preparation and maintenance of a comprehensive, high-quality personal health record. To that end, AHDI is promoting the role of PHR Facilitator as a contributory future space for the tacit knowledge and experience of medical transcriptionists. The goals of the PHR initiative are to (a) educate the public on how to access, read, and understand their healthcare records, (b) create public awareness around the importance of healthcare documentation specialists as health record experts, and (c) position MTs as PHR facilitators to assist patients with PHR creation and assembly (via paid or volunteer service). AHDI is creating a PHR Toolkit to assist members and component groups in promoting the value of a personal health record to the general public and creating a potential space for MTs to step into a facilitator’s role. The kit, which will include PowerPoint presentations for public education, facilitator/consumer consent forms, brochures and other AHIMA-supplied PHR forms, will be available in the coming weeks. Look for announcements in AHDI publications and emails and access to the kit via the AHDI website soon! Few in healthcare delivery understand the nuances of a detailed, accurate health record the way MTs do – experts ideally suited to assist the public with PHR creation and management. For more information about the PHR Tool Kit, contact Sue Krajewski (skrajewski@ahdionline.org) at AHDI.