An agent-based application of Personal Health Record in homecare

Abstract

Homecare is an important component of the continuum of care as it provides the potential to improve quality of life and quality of healthcare delivery while containing costs. Personal Health Record (PHR) systems constitute a technological infrastructure that can support greater flexibility for healthcare professionals and patients, thus allowing for more effective homecare services. In particular, PHRs are intended to reach patients outside of care settings, influence their behaviors, and satisfy their demand for greater information and access. To this end, PHR technology needs to evolve well beyond providing a consolidated patient record, in ways that make it more widely applicable and valuable to health systems. The development of applications and tools on top of PHR systems can allow the PHR to function as a platform for patients to exchange information and interact with the health system (e.g., scheduling appointments electronically). This paper presents a prototype PHR-based system that aims at supporting chronic disease management. The system has been developed on the grounds of a service-oriented architecture where healthcare process automation is realized by means of dynamic, patientrelated workflows. Copyright © 2010 ACM.