MedicKey USB Flash Drive: Your Personal Health Record for Travel & Home Use

MedicKey has made available to the public this USB flash drive that contains your Personal Health Record (PHR), which can come in handy when you travel or when you're in your hometown, especially if your doctors' offices/pharmacies are closed or their records are inaccessible for whatever reasons like fires or natural disasters. This MedicKey USB flash drive that accesses one's Personal Health Record isn't just good for travel, for these products are also excellent for all members of the family at anytime. This is because you can have the Personal Health Record right at hand via a MedicKey USB flash drive when you need it, including travel, if you can get access to a Windows-based computer that uses NT, Windows 2000, and XP versions.

The Importance Of Accessible Health Information

For those who take medications, have allergies, are on the road with travel (all of which apply to me), or who are the emergency contacts of friends and loved ones, or spend time living in more than one city, it can be hard to have instant access to their Personal Health Records when an emergency strikes themselves or those who are close to them like one's spouse or kids. With this MedicKey that I have, I'm able to have a portable USB flash drive on me (which I can carry around my neck) whenever I want to, This can make the difference if I have to receive emergency treatment, because the care providers like EMT's or doctors will know what treatments to give me or not to give me via the medications which I take and my allergies (that are going to interfere with my medications and/or cause allergic reactions). This handy electronic USB flash drive Personal Health Record could be the difference someday if I'm in harm's way.

I'm glad to be able to use this kind of USB flash drive that MedicKey provides, because what would happen if I'm found unconscious, whether I'm in my hometown somewhere or on a travel writing assignment? I don't wear any kind of bracelets that would give indication to my penicillin allergy or other important facets of my Personal Health Record.

According to the MedicKey website, when you insert the portable USB electronic devise that contains your Personal Health Records, neither your laptop nor a public computer used during travel isn't altered nor is any software installed, and your privacy is protected, in that your personal information isn't sent to Portable Information Management Systems, which makes the MedicKey.

It's Easy To Enter Your Personal Health Record Information!

When I got my MedicKey Personal Health Record USB electronic flash drive, I got step by step instructions (but help is available online, too, at the travel and home product's website link here ):

Such information includes pages for the following where data and images can be entered:

Member Information, including sections for emergency contacts; Insurance information, where you can drag and drop images of business cards; Physicians, with space for their pertinent contact information; Medical Conditions And Family History, includes a laundry list of check off boxes for ailments you've had as well as sections which address your tobacco and drinking habits; Medications And Allergies; Immunizations; and Member Notes. Sections for your USB electronic flash drive Personal Medical Record by MedicKey also feature places where you can drag and drop scanned image documents (up to 15) for Legal Directives (such as a Living Will/Directive To Physicians), Cardiology, plus Laboratory And Radiology (like X-rays).

I was able to enter two alerts in red lettering, which is what appears on the first page when a healthcare professional sticks the MedicKey in his or her computer, including my penicillin allergy and about a certain medication I take.

Now, the whole family's Personal Health Records can be entered on one MedicKey. The website says that duplicate keys can be made for all the members of the family in less than five minutes, but it has to be done with a MedicKey flash drive.

Password Protection Options

You have two options for protecting your MedicKey information with up to two passwords, with the options being explained when on the first page before you go to your Personal Health Record information. If you do set up the "Access" password, and you're not conscious when the records need to be accessed, then the personal medical record profile won't be available. It's best to at least set up an "Edit" password, otherwise, people can go into your records and change them. I did this, but I didn't set up an "Access" password. Healthcare professionals are told on the first page how to bypass the "Edit" password entry so they can go into my Personal Health Record information.

The price of each MedicKey is currently $69 (adding 1-5 family members on this electronic USB flash drive is $29.95) , and those who purchase these USB flash drives with Personal Health Record information don't have to pay any other fees. But you can't duplicate what's on this travel and home product on non-MedicKey USB flash drives. Currently, you can, without extra charge, upgrade a MedicKey to hold 2,000 images by going to their website link here after you've received your travel-friendly health product.

This electronic USB health product that's handy during travel as well as non-travel times with access to your Personal Health Record can be ordered via online, fax or post. The contact information is at the end of the article. In the future, those computers using Windows Vista will be able to have compatibility with the MedicKey.

My good friend, who is an IT professional in the Washington, D.C. area, told me that he's really impressed with the MedicKey demo at their website, which gives the potential buyer a great sneak preview of what it's like to have this USB flash drive Personal Health Record product. He wrote me in part:

"I did download both the demo version and the set of completed forms. I found the record set to be quite complete and the data entry to be logical and relatively easy to complete. I particularly liked the capability to include scans of the insurance card (front and back) as well as other documents...All in all, it seems a good product and would have real world use."

Another Tip

I agree with him, and getting the MedicKey also got me to finally track down and get a copy of my immunization records from my county's health office going back to the 1970's, of which I made several copies of them to put in strategic places. USB flash drive technology isn't perfect or one could even misplace his or her MedicKey, so it's important to also have paper back ups of your medical records.

Contact MedicKey: 260 Maple Court, Suite #221. Ventura, California 93003. Phone Orders and Customer Service: 877-682-5340. Fax Orders: 805-658-0925. Email: info@medickey.com