keyose, your personal health record
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- What is Keyose?
- What is Keyose useful for?
- How does Keyose work?
- What if a hacker breaks in and steals my personal record?
- What if the doctor introduces by mistake a Keyose code that is not mine? Would the doctor not be looking at another patient’s personal record?
- What if someone (a relative, a friend, a colleague) peeks at my card and connects to Keyose without my permission?
- I fear that my health data could be in the hands of a private company.
- What if someone gets in my personal health record and modifies or deletes it, without me knowing? Could that prove dangerous?
- Who will enter my personal health record? What happens if the patient makes a mistake while introducing it?
- What if the patient lies about his/her data?
- Who is behind Keyose?
- How much does it cost?
- Where does Keyose get its financial support from?
- Where are the Keyose servers?
- How can I get in touch with Keyose managers?
- What is Keyose?
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Keyose is a personal health record (PHR) management service. It allows you to store the basic medical data of a patient (allergies, main diseases and medications) on Internet so that they are available on real time in any place (through Internet connection, mobile phone or other devices).
- What is Keyose useful for?
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You might think that a service like Keyose is not really necessary. You might think that all the information a doctor in the emergency room needs is available when needed. The following scenarios based on real experience show that this is not always true.
- A 75-year-old male with Alzheimer enters the ER of a typical hospital. A few weeks ago his primary care doctor added a painkiller to his medication list. The side effects of the specific painkiller include constipation and bowel occlusion. As a result, the patient shows intense discomfort. The patient’s son, however, who has been taking care of him for the last 3 days does not know that the specific painkiller was recently added to his father’s treatment. The hospital medical records do not include that change, so there is a delay in the diagnosis that causes unnecessary extra suffering to the patient.
- A young and healthy woman (23 years old) suffers a severe cranial trauma. She is admitted to the ER while in a coma and immediately directed to the neurosurgery operating theater. Unfortunately she has a severe allergy to latex that is unknown to the doctors. The patient dies as a result of a fatal anaphylaxis triggered by the latex of the surgery gloves.
These are examples of how appropriate and accurate information can dramatically improve health care provision and prevent medical errors. Unfortunately there are still various problems with the management of health information and we are really far from a universal and integrated information system all across the health care system.
The information is usually transmitted by patients with clinical reports or sometimes just by asking them directly. As a result the doctors have to deal with several sources of information, most of them inaccurate. This situation leads to a less efficient health care process and often questionable medical decisions, creating a growing frustrating feeling between healthcare professionals and patients.
By providing a unique and simple source of information updated and maintained by patients or principal caregivers with the help of their regular healthcare providers many medical errors can be prevented and a better health care process achieved.
- How does Keyose work?
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- Users (patients or one of their caregivers or doctors) connect to Keyose and fill the basic data (allergies, medications, main diseases). They never introduce a patient's identification data (name, driving license, passport). They also select a private password.
- Keyose generates a code that will identify from that moment that clinical record (for example AYKB345).
- Users print at home a card with the generated code (AYKB345) and a public password that includes information about their allergies and blood type.
- Users keep the card in their wallet or print the Keyose code on an identification badge.
- When patients visit healthcare professionals they show them their Keyose code (AYKB345).
- The healthcare professionals visit www.keyose.com. They enter the patients’ code (AYKB345) and their public password, and gain access to the personal health record. Doing this they can obtain basic data about their patients even if they are unconscious or unable to recall it.
- The private password, which is not present on the card and only the patient knows, allows the creation of the personal health record (adding or removing treatments for example). It is also needed in order to access particularly sensitive data (under the patient's criteria).
- What if a hacker breaks in and steals my personal record?
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Confidentiality of data is ensured. In Keyose databases there is no information about patients' identity, it is totally anonymous. If hackers enter the database they will only obtain a list of health records WITH NO NAMES. Only people to whom the patients show their Keyose card (their doctors) will know that the specific code belongs to the specific patient.
In the end it is like having a copy of your health record in your pocket at all times (on a Keyose card, on a badge, on the key-ring or in your head if you are able to memorize the code). The advantages? 1) It takes up less space, 2) you do not leave it at home and 3) it is more updated.
- What if the doctor introduces by mistake a Keyose code that is not mine? Would the doctor not be looking at another patient’s personal record?
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It is very unlikely that this happens. In the personal health record sex and age are included, so if you are a 50-year-old male and a doctor enters another personal health record by mistake (for example in case you have a car crash with your family and the cards of your son and yours are mixed and you are both unconscious) this error will be easy to detect when the doctors see that the personal health record belongs to a 25-year-old male (unless you have the secret for eternal youth).
- What if someone (a relative, a friend, a colleague) peeks at my card and connects to Keyose without my permission?
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Anyone having access to your card will be able to access the data stored in it. This is very important in case you are unconscious and in need of medical assistance. However, there is personal health data that is more sensitive (if for example you suffer from HIV, alcoholism or any other similar data). For these cases you have the private password. This password is selected when you sign up in Keyose, it is not on the card and only you know it. If you talk to a doctor and you want him to access that more sensitive data you will need to reveal the private password. In case anyone sees your card without your permission (if you are unconscious or the card is stolen) they will not be able to access that sensitive data.
You also have the option of not entering data in Keyose. In general, people do not mind others knowing their blood type or that they are allergic to penicillin, buy they do not want others to know that they have, for instance, a certain kind of addiction. Keyose offers you the option to choose the level of protection of your data (card access, private password access or no data registered). With Keyose you have control over your data and over who can access it.
Think about your health record at the hospital. You have no control over who accesses your data. It can be seen by doctors, nurses or clerks. Keyose offers you a better control over your health data; you can rest assured about that.
- I fear that my health data could be in the hands of a private company.
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As you don't enter personal data (name, not even e-mail) when you sign up in Keyose, we are unable to detect the origin of the data. You will therefore not be receiving any spam or intrusive marketing messages (as we won't be having neither your e-mail nor your identity). We are interested in providing you with a helpful service, not in accessing your data.
- What if someone gets in my personal health record and modifies or deletes it? Can this prove dangerous?
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Your personal health record cannot be modified or deleted without your private password. We recommend that you not communicate the private password to others nor write it down (and certainly not on your Keyose card). The private password makes sure that nobody modifies your personal health record or accesses sensitive data (as HIV, alcoholism etc.) without your personal consent. In any case and in order to offer the highest security level the Keyose system is designed to make you change your private password every once in a while.
- Who will enter my personal health record? What if the patient makes a mistake while introducing it?
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Keyose is a patient-orientated service, not a doctor-orientated one. It is based upon the patient-centered medical philosophy. For us it is important that patients be able to manage their own medical record and take an active role in their healthcare process. Some patients will be able to write a good personal health record by themselves, while others will need help from their main caregiver or their doctor. Keyose allows all these people to edit data (using the private password).
Keyose also includes a help system to guide patients throughout the process of the health data filling (using previous medical reports or with the help of a healthcare professional).
- What if the patients lie about their data?
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Patients don't usually lie about their condition. However, Keyose is a “personal health record”, so it cannot be seen as a certified medical document. The truthfulness of the data stored in Keyose is equal to the truthfulness of the patient, or the truthfulness of a medical report given by the patient (that can also be made up).
Doctor can trust Keyose data at the same extent at which they can trust their patients. Keyose cannot be used as evidence in court (since it is not a certified medical document).
- Who is behind Keyose?
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The conception of Keyose comes from Dr. Julio Bonis and its technological development is responsibility of Carlos Hernández. You can learn more about us in the site credits.
The initial investment needed to design, develop and run the Keyose platform comes from a joint venture of recrea (a software developing company) and ANCO (a consultancy company related with health-care innovative projects).
- How much does it cost?
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The basic service of a “personal health record” is offered for free to the patient by recrea and ANCO. We consider it to be a useful tool that can save lives and want to offer it for free.
- Where does Keyose get its financial support from?
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The main financial source of Keyose will be the charge for premium services (for instance translating the personal health record for international patients or providing contextual information about a patient's diseases).
We could also include general information about sponsors never context-focused and never targeting patients but only doctors that access the website. Direct-patient advertising of drugs will never be promoted in Keyose. Providing aggregated (as general statistics about use of drugs in general population) to third parties is also a potential financial source. Keyose will never give access to third parties of individualized data.
- Where are the Keyose servers?
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In the headquarters of recrea, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain).
- How can I get in touch with Keyose managers?
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By email at info@keyose.com. We will be glad to receive your suggestions, comments and, of course, your congratulations.
We would especially like to read real stories about how Keyose proved helpful to you as a doctor, patient or relative. We will be happy to know that our work really helps people!