The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on May 7 announced a new project to encourage Medicare beneficiaries to track their healthcare services and better communicate with their providers.
The CMS pilot uses an online personal health record (PHR) to give Medicare beneficiaries the ability to collect and access information about their health or healthcare services, such as medical conditions, hospitalizations, physician visits, and medications. The pilot test will take place in South Carolina, where beneficiaries will be given an opportunity to use a PHR populated by their own Medicare claims data.
The pilot, which began on April 4, 2008, is expected to run for 12 months, and CMS will use information gathered from the pilot to determine future steps with respect to PHRs. Read the press release.
