Patients with Direct addresses?

Last week, I joined in on a LinkedIN discussion about patients having Direct addresses. (You can find it here.) Should they, shouldn't they? Despite the pro and con comments, the fact is that some patients do already have Direct addresses. Here's one person's comment:

As someone who's occasionally a patient myself, I've already created my own personal Direct address (for free) via my Microsoft HealthVault account (also free). And, while I'm eagerly awaiting the day when my own PCP's patient portal (Epic-based) gets upgraded to allow for more efficient and effective 2-way messaging between me and my doctor, I'm especially looking forward to eventually being able to expect him and the other providers I see to routinely send my health information -- using CCD/CCR and other relevant PHI attachments -- to my @direct.healthvault.com address, so that I'll be able to maintain ownership and control of ALL of my own health information in one place without having to be tied to a single ambulatory practice's EMR system. Until MU Stage 2 becomes a reality, though, my HealthVault PHR is mainly just a nice place for me to be able to find all of my recent pharmacy records and lab results in a structured way (thanks to the HealthVault apps that CVS, Quest Diagnostics, and LabCorp have made available), and some self-reported PHI as well, and share this information with the various specialists I see.

The writer is obviously not your average patient. He's too well informed not to be involved directly in healthcare. But he's a patient nonetheless. Those "some patients" to whom I referred above will soon become "many patients" and eventually "most patients".


How about you? If you're following this blog, you're also not your average patient ... but a patient nonetheless. Do you have a personal @direct address? How about a personal HealthVault account? Both are free. Why not jump in on that game? I suspect it'll help you be ready to understand what's going on when "Joan" asks you to send her health information to averagepatient@direct.healthvault.com. 


Alistair Jackson, M.Ed.