Your no-sweat guide to keeping a personal health record in your digital vault

Managing your healthcare is a big job. There’s often a lot of information to keep track of: the providers you see, the medications you take, and the appointments you need to make – plus all that post-visit billing and insurer communication.

You can manage some of this in a patient portal like MyChart. The problem: you’ll only see what your provider enters. And if you’ve got a large care team (say, for diabetes or cancer treatment), you may have different information in different portals.

One way to make things simpler: build your own personal health record in a digital vault.

A personal health record is a dynamic portrait of your health, from your last doctor’s visit to your latest prescription refill. Having one makes it easier to view a full list of medications, know when you’re due for a flu shot, or share your providers’ information with a caretaker.

With Prisidio’s cloud-based vault, you can manage a unified personal health record on your own terms – and take control of your healthcare. What’s more: you can use your vault to maintain records for other family members in your care.

Here, we’ve got three tips to get you started.

Tip 1

Centralize your healthcare providers’ information for quick reference

How many healthcare providers do you see each year? Most people visit at least a few: their primary care provider, dentist, optometrist, or OBGYN. If you have certain health conditions, you may have additional specialists in your rotation, like a dermatologist for eczema or a gastroenterologist for a colonoscopy.

Of course, your other family members likely have their own providers. The more providers your family visits, the harder it is to keep tabs on their information – and manage care for yourself and your loved ones.

One solution: use your personal health record to centralize information about each provider, plus any caretakers you have (whether current or in case of emergency). With Prisidio, you can do that in minutes.

In your digital vault, add each provider as a person in the People section. We suggest including their:

• Name
• Specialty
• Clinic location (or home address if they’re a caretaker)
• Phone number and email address

You don’t have to do this all at once. Next time you schedule a dental appointment, take a moment to add your dentist’s information to your vault. Within a few taps it can be shared straight from your existing Contacts app.

With a digital list of providers, it’s easy to find your primary care physician’s contact info – just pull it up in the Prisidio app. Arranging for childcare before heading out of town? Share your child’s provider information with a babysitter or family member. If there’s an emergency, someone in your circle can centrally access these details without sifting through countless emails and records.

This part of your personal health record can expand beyond your providers. Consider adding information about the people you take care of or share caretaking duties with.

Tip 2

Digitize important healthcare documents for hassle-free reference and sharing

Personal health management involves handling a lot of medical, legal, and financial documents. But the more time you spend keeping track of these, the less time you have to focus on your actual health – especially if you’ve got different documents in different places.

What we recommend: incorporate these files into your personal health record so they’re easier to reference and share.

Which documents should you look for? Try these:

• Medication and allergy list
• Immunization records
• Health, dental, and vision insurance cards and policies
• HIPAA release forms
• Explanation-of-benefits statements
• Medical invoices and receipts
• Medical powers of attorney
• DNR or POLST forms
• Living will
• Organ donation instructions

It only takes a minute to add these to your cloud-based vault. If you already have these as PDF copies, simply upload them in the Documents section. Still have some of these on paper? Use Prisidio’s Scan feature to digitize them. (For more on that, we’ve got a whole guide

If you're handling healthcare for your loved ones, you can add their healthcare documents to your vault as well. Organize them into folders – and use the Related Items feature to link each document to the right person. This way, you can see all their health-related files in one place.

One tip we recommend? While you’re adding these documents to your vault, link them to their related healthcare provider (e.g., dental insurance information to your dentist) for more powerful organization.

With Prisidio, you can quickly share a medication list with a new provider or send your child’s immunization records to their school. And thanks to Prisidio’s layered digital security, sharing and storage can happen worry-free.

Tip 3

Set reminders to stay on top of your care

Even the healthiest people have to refill prescriptions, schedule regular dental cleanings, or renew their health insurance policy. These tasks can be a lot to juggle. And every time you complete one, your personal health record will need a refresh.

With a quick nudge, you can remember to make a vaccine appointment or update your list of medications. Prisidio’s built-in reminder feature can help.

When you add items to your digital vault, you can set a reminder to revisit documents or complete related tasks. Just navigate to the Details tab, specify when and how often you want it to repeat, and add any relevant notes. For example, you might create a reminder to:

• Schedule a physical with your family physician.
• Renew a prescription before you use up your current supply of medications.
• Update your health insurance information after open enrollment.

When you log in to the mobile app, you’ll see reminders at the top of your Dashboard so you can keep healthcare top of mind.

Keep your healthcare essentials organized with Prisidio

With your personal health record in a digital vault, you can centralize your most important healthcare information in a single, easy-access view. No more fumbling for your health insurance card or prescription information. Prisidio makes it easy to manage these essentials on desktop or mobile.

Prisidio’s great for more than just managing your healthcare needs. You can use it to organize information about property documents, travel essentials, family heirlooms, and more.