June 08, 2007
Report on the Future of Personal Health Records
A new report entitled Perspectives on the Future of Personal Health Records has been published by the California Healthcare Foundation this month. Personal health records present a number of promises, perils, and challenges in the years ahead. In this report, experts share their views on the future of PHRs, from the perspective of the technologist, informed patient, physician, employer, and public health professional.
The ideal PHR holds tremendous potential, according to these experts. It could receive and evaluate information from a patient's lab results or monitoring devices; store a patient's observations about physical and social environment; link with a clinician's electronic health record; and much more. PHRs could also make health care more affordable by urging prevention and wellness, and by streamlining care delivery.
On the downside, PHRs might disrupt the doctor-patient relationship, saddle overburdened physicians with unreimbursed information-management duties, and overload consumers with data. This report helps to delineate all of the important issues to consider.
Perspectives on the Future of Personal Health Records (pdf)