Blue Cross of Northern Pennsylvania to push online medical records

Blue Cross of Northern Pennsylvania next month plans to offer medical patients the opportunity to access their personal medical records via computer, mobile phone and other handheld wireless devices.

Dr. Drew Palin, vice president and chief development officer at Blue Cross of Northern Pennsylvania, says the healthcare insurance provider in late March will give about 100,000 of its Blue Cross members the option for the online view of their medical history. Each individual’s history would be presented in summarized form, with the data culled from insurance claims or other medical information the patient wishes to add.

“We’ve been working for the past six months on designing the technology for this,” Palin says. “The hope is that the patient will control and manage the health record.”

To securely access the online information, Blue Cross patients and members would use Diversinet’s MobiSecure Wallet and Vault soft token, which can generate a one-time password to the computer or mobile device, for access to the online patient record.

Some of the benefits envisioned from use of the online medical record include a way to confirm insurance eligibility and coverage, reduce duplicate medical tests and display and transmit information to medical professionals electronically.

The goal is to eventually offer the online medical record system to the total 600,000 Blue Cross of Northern Pennsylvania members.