Hartford-based Aetna Inc. is becoming the first health insurer to team with Microsoft Corp. to give its customers an Internet-based vault for storing medical records they can access even if they change jobs or leave their health plan.
Starting in November, Aetna will allow some customers to transfer electronic personal health records to Microsoft’s HealthVault, a platform that lets care providers look at the information, if they have patient permission.
The vault will give the insurer’s customers “continuous access” to their claims information and anything the patient wants to add, like clinical data or past medical records, Aetna President Mark Bertolini said.
The insurer sees several advantages in the move, including improved communication with providers.
“We can avoid duplicate testing, we can avoid mistakes that occur as a result of not understanding the member’s complete condition,” he said. “Because we don’t have a national health information technology network, this will stand as a first-generation of that kind of capability.”
The announcement marks the latest step in a push by several companies into the storing and sharing of medical records.
Google Inc. opened a Web site earlier this year that allows people to store health information such as doctor, hospital and pharmacy records in one place. IBM and Duke University also have created a Web site that allows people to pay medical bills, schedule doctor appointments and store medical records, among other things.
Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft launched the free HealthVault Web site a year ago. About 40 companies currently allow customers to store information on it, a list that includes hospitals and CVS Caremark’s Minute Clinic. Aetna would be the first health benefits company to do so, according to Microsoft. (AP)
