On Wednesday, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt formally announced the personal health record vendors selected to participate in Medicare PHR pilot programs in Arizona and Utah, Healthcare IT News reports.
Vendors
The selected PHR vendors are:
- Google Health;
- HealthTrio;
- NoMoreClipboard.com; and
- Passport MD (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 11/12).
Acting CMS Administrator Kerry Weems said that more than 40 vendors expressed interest in participating in the pilot program.
The selected vendors will not be paid by Medicare, and each vendor will be responsible for marketing its PHR program and adopting its own privacy protections.
The PHR vendors offer a range of products from no-cost services to fee-driven "concierge" programs (Alltucker, Arizona Republic, 11/13).
PHR Pilot Details
The one-year pilot program, announced in August, is set to begin early next year.
Under the pilot program, called Medicare PHR Choice, Medicare beneficiaries will control their own PHRs.
The PHRs will contain information entered by the beneficiary and health care providers. CMS also will transfer up to two years of the beneficiary's claims data on request (Healthcare IT News, 11/12).
The pilot program is expected to cost CMS $2.5 million in administrative costs, according to a CMS spokesperson.
Arizona, Utah
CMS selected Arizona and Utah for the pilot because the states have a diverse mix of beneficiaries in both rural and urban areas, the Arizona Republic reports (Arizona Republic, 11/13).
Weems added that the states have a large number of Medicare beneficiaries, about one million combined (Rowley, Tucson Citizen, 11/13).
Medicare officials said that they did not know how many beneficiaries will enroll in the pilot program but that they expect it to be a popular health service.
CMS plans to adjust and potentially expand the pilot program after the first year (Arizona Republic, 11/13).