Kate Christensen, MD, Medical Director, kp.org, with Paulanne Balch, MD, Physician Lead for HealthConnect Online, Colorado Region

Greetings from Oakland, where I have been graciously invited to attend a get together of Kaiser Permanente’s clinical and business leadership for HealthConnect Online, which serves the personal health record connected to the electronic health record, HealthConnect, and accessible through kp.org.

I will say that even in the absence of the PCHIT work, I would want to be here. Why? Because I have always thought that the most innovative staff within Kaiser Permanente support the HealthConnect project, and the most innovative of that group support HealthConnect Online.

This was the first such meeting with every Kaiser Permanente region now fully live with the PHR, with Ohio up now for 30 days. And from my perspective, the news is good. As each region of the system discussed their current and future plans for the PHR, commentary focused on value of each feature for the members. I really liked what Gail Sands, Director of Innovative Projects for the Ohio region said: “This is the patient’s chart. They should know what’s inside.”

Strides in Transparency

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This is a link to Kaiser Permanente’s press release about the relaunch of the site with My Health Manager. As the release states, the personal health record is continuing to be a large focus of Kaiser Permanente’s work in health information technology. All of Kaiser Permanente’s regions are now operating a personal health record as of this year now that Ohio is online.

Of interest, they are also going through and replacing “your” references to “my” references around the site. For the PCHIT initiative, we are following the progress of Kaiser Permanente as a benchmark organization, and they are a sponsoring partner.

One of my to-do’s is to schedule an in depth tour of kp.org. I am a user (and builder!) of Group Health’s PHR, which is based on similar technology. I know from my own physician and patient experience that more interaction like this is the right step forward for the people we serve.

Kaiser Permanente Puts Personal Health Record Front and Center

Part of the support for PCHIT comes from Kaiser Permanente, which operates the kp.org portal for its patients. Part of what we’ll do is to demonstrate the work that organizations are doing alongside kp.org, which has 1,558,651 signed up for secure features, as of second quarter, 2007. I think that makes this one of the largest, if not the largest in the world.

Kaiser Permanente has posted a flash video of the new kp.org for external audiences which will include “My Health Manager.” Take a look - what do you think?

I hope to be shadowing in a Kaiser Permanente facility soon to observe how physicians and staff leverage kp.org in practice. The mid-Atlantic Region is pioneering online booking of medical appointments right now.