Family Health Records Available to Record Online

Family Health History can be Compiled on Federal Government Website

Nov 29, 2009 Renee Holmes

Recording a family health history electronically is now simple and easy to share thanks to software on a United States Federal Government website.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, families are now able to save and share their family health history with physicians or other family members through a government portal site known as “My Family Health Portrait.”

How to Build a Family Health History

Building a family health history is simple and should take less than half an hour for most people. Visiting the Surgeon General’s sponsored site is the first step in recording a family health history. When at the site, a person can choose to either create their own health history or open a saved history file.

Certain information, such as gender and date of birth, are required fields, while providing a name is not required. The more information that is added, the more complete the health history will be. After a few basic questions are completed, the user will have the option to fill in health history information about their parents and grandparents, providing physicians with a more complete overview of the entire family health history.

After the complete family health history is filled out, the user has the option of saving the history as well as viewing it in a diagram “family-tree” style chart. This chart can be printed as an easy way to bring into a physician’s office.

Purpose of Family Health History Website

Creating a family health history through the “My Family Health Portrait” website is a great tool for providing physicians with information that may be pertinent to immediate or future well-being. The site also allows other family members to create their own health history by using another family member’s information and adding to it.

Monitoring Inherited Diseases

Getting a complete picture of one’s family health history can make individuals as well as physicians understand the impact of hereditary diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and mental illness. By family members sharing their information with each other, it will allow them to share a more complete profile with a doctor. Doctors can then test individuals for inherited diseases if needed based on their complete history.

Security of Surgeon General Health History Site

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, this tool is private and the site does not retain personal information. After filling in the provided information, the family health history can be saved and downloaded to a personal computer rather than saved on the site. Therefore, users can feel confident in providing complete information. In order to share the information, it must be sent via e-mail or printed and shared on hard copy.

Source:

Department of Health and Human Services

The copyright of the article Family Health Records Available to Record Online in General Medicine is owned by Renee Holmes. Permission to republish Family Health Records Available to Record Online in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Share Family Health Records With Online Software

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