Megan Mok MPP/MBA 1989

Putting the Patient in the Driver’s Seat

When her mother was diagnosed with cancer a decade ago, Megan Mok, MPP/MBA’89 was faced with the urgent need to collect her mother’s medical records from multiple doctors across the country. “I thought, ‘There has to be a better way for patients to manage and have access to their medical information,’” she explained.

Mok’s frustration served as the impetus to launch Peoplechart, where she is the CEO. The company provides a personal health record (PHR) system—a concept Mok called “portable medical records”—for use by individuals and organizations, like hospitals, labs, and other care providers. Under a patient’s direction, Peoplechart collects records from various providers in paper or electronic formats and organizes them for display in a secure, web-based system. The information is made available at any time to doctors and caregivers per patient’s instructions.

“If you have an episode requiring immediate care, you want that information available,” said Mok. But, traditionally, hospitals only keep records for a patient’s visit at that location. “This a new concept and a paradigm shift from provider-owned to patient-owned medical records, where the patient takes on a central role in managing information from multiple providers.”

While some insurance and health care providers offer PHR, Mok said Peoplechart is unique in that its system is provider-quality, but owned and controlled by the patient. Among its clients is the Premiere division of Partners HealthCare, a health care system in the Boston area, which uses the Peoplechart PHR to help their international patients.

While the idea of personal health records is still a new one, the concept has received significant public policy attention in recent years and was mentioned during one of the presidential debates—suggesting policy support for PHR applications. Peoplechart also recently partnered with the University of Chicago Hospitals for a two-year study to determine if PHRs can help better manage information and improve health outcomes for lung transplantation patients. Starting in January, the system will be used by the hospital and community clinic physicians for managing the post-operative care and ongoing health of transplant patients.

David O. Meltzer, an associate professor in the Departments of Economics, Medicine, and the Harris School, is one of the University researchers involved in the study. “These patients are often cared for by many providers across multiple institutions, and we hope that the Peoplechart personal health record system will help the patients and their doctors to better coordinate care,” he said. “Ideally, better coordination will both improve patients’ outcomes and help avoid some unnecessary spending, for example on duplicate tests.”

Mok said she has always been interested in public policy and has a “desire to help and contribute to the greater good.” She was one of the very first Harris School students to earn a joint degree in public policy and business—gaining the skills she has been able to use at Peoplechart. “There are synergies between the worlds of business and public policy and a lot that can be learned from combining both.”

Much of the public and health care industry still needs to be educated about PHR. With plenty of work to do, Mok finds rewards in her job every day. “I have the opportunity to make a difference in improving the health outcomes and quality of health care experience for patients.”