The Program

The Maine Health Information Management Association (MeHIMA, an affiliate of the American Health Information Management Association) offers free community-based public education seminars as part of our mission to provide effective management of personal health information needed to deliver quality healthcare to the public.

The community-based presentation is a free program delivered to your group or organization that provides valuable information to help you better manage your personal health information. Topics include how to access your medical records, your privacy rights, and starting a personal health record (PHR). This multimedia presentation is delivered by a credentialed Health Information Management (HIM) professional. Audience members are given an opportunity to ask questions along the way and free informational packets are provided to each participant.

AHIMA does not make, sell, or endorse any PHR products. The goal of this campaign is to provide individuals with the information they need to better manage their personal health information and to encourage them to maintain a PHR in order to improve the quality of care they receive.

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The Purpose

Your personal health information is a valuable resource to you, your family, and the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who provide your treatment and care. But did you know that, in most cases, a complete record of all of your personal health information cannot be found in any single location or consistent format? The various elements of any one person's health information are likely scattered across several healthcare providers, possibly in different cities, states, or even countries and are kept in various combinations of paper-based and electronic record-keeping formats.

Each one of your healthcare providers (family practitioner, allergist, OB-GYN, etc.) compiles a separate medical record on you. These multiple medical records can lead to an incomplete story about your health.

Keeping your own PHR allows you to provide doctors with valuable information that can help improve the quality of care you receive. A PHR can help reduce or eliminate duplicate tests and allow you to receive faster, safer treatment and care in an emergency. And the PHR empowers you, the patient. Overall, it gives you more intimate knowledge of your health information allowing you to play a more active role in your preventive care and care management.

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How It Works

We provide the speaker, audience handouts, and materials to promote the event at no cost to you. In return we ask that you provide the audience, a suitable date, time, and location for the presentation, and any technical or logistical support for the presentation (i.e. – laptop, projector, audio speakers, microphone, refreshments for attendees).

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The Web Site

As part of this public education campaign, AHIMA has also created a free public web site, www.myphr.com, where you can find a wide range of helpful information and resources including:

• Information regarding your health information rights

  • Privacy rights and common privacy myths

  • How to access your records

  • Information for caregivers
     

• Step-by-step guide for creating a PHR

  • *A searchable database of PHR products and services

  • Free downloadable health record forms to get you started
     

• A guided tour to help you learn more about how your health information is collected, where it goes, and how it’s used.
   

• An online form to request a local health information management professional to come out and deliver a free public education seminar to your group or organization.

*AHIMA does not make, sell or endorse any PHR products. We provide this database as a public service and encourage people to research the different types of tools that are available and choose the one that is right for them. Many of the tools listed in this database are free of charge.

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About the Sponsor

This program is provided as a free public service by the Maine Health Information Management Association (MeHIMA), an affiliate of the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) and the Foundation of Research and Education of AHIMA (FORE).