Members of Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania by the end of March will be able to check their diagnoses and personal health records from their cell phones, InformationWeek reports.
The health plan initially will provide 100,000 of its members with secure electronic access to their own and their dependents' information, including recent diagnoses, prescribed medications, allergies and immunization histories from the insurer's claims data and their PHRs, according to InformationWeek.
"It's not a complete record, but it will have relevant diagnoses" and prescription drug data, which patients can share with physicians in situations such as when patients are being treated while traveling, said Dr. Drew Palin, chief development officer at BCNEPA. Members also will be able to access their PHRs from PDAs and personal computers.
The health plan has licensed Diversinet's MobiSecure Wallet and Vault wireless authentication application to ensure secure online access. The application sends a one-time password to the user's cell phone so they can gain access to the PHR system. Palin said BCNEPA likely will add improvements to its PHR system in the future.
All 600,000 members of the health plan will gain access to the system later, and officials from the insurance company and Diversinet said they believe they are the first to provide access to health records via mobile devices, InformationWeek reports (Kolbasuk McGee, InformationWeek, 1/23).