Pros: OptumHealth has designed a personal health record (PHR) system that is portable and can be used by individuals for their entire lifetime. Users can access, maintain, and update their online records despite of changes in health plans, employment, or physicians. The PHR is available for use by everyone for free via the website www.myOptumHealth.com, and provides the same sharing capacity and portability as the PHRs in all the private health portals that are managed by OptumHealth. The company also takes one step further by collaborating with Microsoft. Members can now transfer all of their PHR data from an OptumHealth-managed portal straight to a Microsoft HealthVault account. As such, all health information like doctor visits, allergy information, and lab tests can be easily pre-populated by the user and shared with doctors, daycare providers, family members, and other authorized individuals.

Cons: When trying to register, got numerous webpage errors.

The Bottomline: myOptumHealth’s PHR is very easy to navigate. Entering the required information is pretty much straightforward and not confusing at all. The best part is that it’s FREE. The company gives everyone the chance to organize their medical records without costing them a single penny. The helpful tools and articles available in the website are also a plus.

Editor’s Rating:

Reviewed on October 18, 2011

Summary:
myOptumHealth is a free public health portal that houses a lot of consumer wellness information ranging from general fitness articles to databases on medications, diseases, lab tests, and surgical procedures. The site also provides useful tools such as the following: Symptom Checker, Drug Interaction Calculator, Find A Doctor, Body Guide, Calculators, and Personal Health Record (PHR).

Features:
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Update My Profile
In this section, you can input personal health information in order to give key persons like physicians a full picture of your current health. You’ll be asked to enter data like basic health information (blood type, height, weight, identifying marks), allergies, present health conditions and medications, and emergency contacts.

Track My Health
This is the portion where you can enter information that’s related to doctor visits. Sub-areas include Healthcare Visits, Surgeries & Procedures, Lab and Biometric Tests, and Immunizations. This feature basically helps you monitor future appointments and treatments that you’ve undergone in the past. It also gives suggestions on what immunizations you still need to have.



Doctors & Insurance
This feature lets you create a healthcare address book where you can enter the contact details of physicians. You can also input your insurance plan information for future reference.

Rewards for Action Program
If enrolled members comply with the therapy recommended to alleviate their chronic conditions, they will be presented with financial incentives that are aligned with health ownership. The information that is entered in their PHR will automatically get fed back to their health plan and will be used in calculating the total reductions in premiums or other chosen incentives.