While there is broad agreement about the need to develop better electronic health records (EHR) systems for tracking patients’ medical records, almost all of EHR solutions to date have been focused on the needs of healthcare providers. Few solutions exist to help patients easily take control of their own health records. MyDigiRecords is seeking to change this by developing a patient-centered mobile application that gives users 24/7 access to their medical information.
Allowing patients to be able to directly access and track their health information provides a number of benefits. The first and most straightforward of these is that digitizing health records helps ensure that medical information cannot be lost or damaged. If a patient is incapacitated, electronic health records make it easier for doctors to find information about their medical history and current medications. And even when patients are not incapacitated, they may forget or misremember important details. Having medical information electronically recorded and continually accessible helps reduce the risk of medical errors made due to incomplete records.
Patient-centered health information systems can also help save money. Lack of visibility into health information contributes to nearly $900 million in medical waste each year. Empowering patients can reduce healthcare costs by up to 20% by making healthcare more efficient, promoting health literacy, and improving price transparency for treatments.
MyDigiRecords’ app gives patients 24/7 access to their health information on a fully HIPPA compliant platform. It uses open APIs to connect with health systems to automatically pull together medical records from all of a patient’s providers, and allows users to enter additional health data through voice to text, scans of medications or paper records, imports from office visit email recaps, and more. The app also allows patients to manage their medications across multiple providers, and sends reminders to help families stay up to date with immunizations.
MyDigiRecords is targeting large groups of patients rather than individual users in order to scale more quickly. By working with insurance companies, employers, and employer groups, MyDigiRecords can leverage those organizations’ existing communications channels to communicate with users, prompt them to actively use the app to track their records and medications, and provide education on features and benefits. MyDigiRecords sees a particular opportunity in helping states manage health costs for patients in foster care.
Dr. Saroj Gupta, CEO of MyDigiRecords and Chris Humphreys, CMO of MyDigiRecords presented to the KC Digital Drive Health Innovation Team on October 26, 2022.