A cost model for personal health records (PHRs).
Personal health records (PHRs) are a rapidly expanding area in medical informatics due to the belief that they may improve healthcare delivery and control costs of care. To truly understand the full potential value of a technology, a cost analysis is critical.However, little evidence exists on the value potential of PHRs, and a cost model for PHRs does not currently exist in the literature.This paper presents a sample cost model for PHR systems, which include PHR infrastructure and applications. We used this model to examine the costs of provider-tethered, payer-tethered, third-party, and interoperable PHRs. Our model projects that on a per-person basis, third-party PHRs will be the most expensive followed by inter operable PHRs, and then provider-tethered PHRs and payer-tethered PHRs are the least expensive. Data interfaces are a major cost driver, thus these findings underscore the need for standards development and use in the implementation ofPHR systems.
Shah
Sapna
S
Center for Information Technology Leadership (CITL), Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Shah
Sapna S
SS
Kaelber
David C
DC
Kaelber
David Charles
DC
Vincent
Adam
A
Pan
Eric C
EC
Pan
Eric
E
Johnston
Douglas
D
Middleton
Blackford
B
D003198:Computer Simulation; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008404:Massachusetts; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000191:economics*; D018803:Models, Economic