Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) have gained a permanent foothold in health care environments, in no small part due to significant legislative backing at the federal level. The next generation of electronic medical records – Personal Health Records (PHRs) – stand to dramatically improve portability of patient information, but privacy concerns will likely slow patient adoption.
What’s a PHR?
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many individuals required critical medical attention, but their hardcopy medical files were either destroyed or inaccessible. PHRs hold immense promise in preventing these types of information crises.
A PHR is a comprehensive, single-view medical record which draws from multiple sources, and is started, maintained, and controlled by the patient. Typically, a PHR is created electronically using one of many database-driven products on the market, including new offerings via the Microsoft and Google health portals. A given PHR can be viewed by anyone granted permission by the owner of the PHR to do so.
