Today, the largest Ohio-based healthcare insurer, Medical Mutual of Ohio, and one of Ohio’s largest medical liability carriers, The Doctors Company, and its Ohio based subsidiary OHIC Insurance Company (OHIC) announced an initiative to better connect patients to their physicians using iHealth, a secure, online and transportable personal health record (PHR) service. The initiative will reach out to Medical Mutual’s network of physicians in Ohio, several of whom already offer the iHealth service, regarding the patient and practice benefits of secure online connectivity and patient-owned PHRs.

“The best way to encourage our members to take an active role in their personal health is in association with their own doctor and the trust that comes with the patient-physician relationship,” said Medical Mutual’s Vice President of eBusiness, Bob Mau. “We will enable our members to directly engage with their own physicians by providing them with a transportable online PHR with automated data updates from our member portal.”

Mau added that more employers are requesting the ability for their employees to interact with their physician online through secure e-mail, health and prevention messages and appointment requests, which saves time for both patients and their doctors.

The Doctors Company through its Columbus-based subsidiary OHIC is supporting Medical Mutual’s effort to reach out to physicians to promote the use of PHRs and secure online patient-physician communication through iHealth.

“The Doctors Company regards iHealth as an important patient safety and connectivity initiative and believes that it has the potential to improve the quality of patient care, disease management and facilitate medication compliance. We want physicians to know there are prudent and efficient ways to communicate online that provide direct benefit to them. We encourage all of our insured physicians nationwide to utilize iHealth,” said David Troxel, M.D., Medical Director for The Doctors Company, which is the nation’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurance carrier in the United States. The Doctors Company insures more than 3,000 doctors in Ohio and 32,000 physicians nationwide.

This collaboration will include communications designed to improve the value of patient-physician connectivity and patient-owned PHRs, and a better understanding of how these elements can improve patient safety, documentation, disease management, and more actively engage patients in their own care.

“We are expecting to enhance the level of service to our patients by using iHealth,” said John Schaeffer, M.D., president of North Ohio Heart Center. “Giving our patients the ability to securely e-mail us, make appointments online, and receive useful health and prevention information is going to be very convenient for them and efficient for us.”

“The physician-patient relationship has proven to be the key to engaging patients online and driving the use of PHRs,” said Edward Fotsch, M.D., CEO of Medem Inc., which provides the iHealth services to physicians. “This innovative and powerful model between physicians, health plans and liability carriers aligns with patient interests and with the new initiatives announced in Ohio by Governor Ted Strickland. Patient-centered networks connected to physicians and PHRs is an ideal model to improve healthcare not just in Ohio, but nationwide.”

There is a keen and growing interest being expressed in terms of healthcare quality and cost-savings potential of electronic personal health records by many, including President Bush, other major candidates for the presidency, elected officials – including Ohio’s Governor and its legislative leaders –and other influential healthcare and public policy organizations.

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Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/insurance-articles/top-health-plan-and-leading-medical-liability-carrier-join-forces-don-olson-1083359.html

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