A Personal Health Record or PHR is a health record that is created and maintained by the individual. A well constructed PHR will provide a complete and accurate summary of the health and medical history of an individual because it will gather information from many sources in a way that is not feasible in most health care settings.

Components of a PHR

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PHRs can contain a diverse range of information. Categories of information that are quite helpful to health care providers are:

• Allergies and adverse drug reactions
• Medications (including dose and how often taken) including over the counter medications and herbal remedies
• Illnesses and hospitalizations
• Surgeries and other procedures
• Vaccinations
• Laboratory test results
• Family history

Paper Based PHR

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Personal health information is recorded and stored in paper format. Printed laboratory reports, copies of clinic notes, and health histories created by the individual may be parts of a paper based PHR.

This method is low cost, reliable, and accessible without the need for a computer or any other hardware.

Paper-based PHRs may be difficult to locate, update, and share with others. Paper based PHRs are subject to physical loss and damage, such as can occur during a natural disaster. Physicians and other healthcare providers may distrust information delivered directly from patients, especially if the information originally came from another physician.

Paper records can also be printed from most electronic PHRs.

PC Based PHR

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Personal health information is recorded and stored in personal computer based software that may have the capability to print, backup, encrypt, and import data from other sources such as a hospital laboratory.

The most basic form of a PC based PHR would be a health history created in a word processing program. The health history created in this way can be printed, copied, and shared with anyone with a compatible word processor.

PHR software can provide more sophisticated features such as data encryption, data importation, and data sharing with health care providers.

Some PHR products allow the copying of health records to a mass storage device such as a CDROM, DVD, or USB Flash drive.

PC based PHRs are subject to physical loss and damage of the personal computer and the data it contains. PC based PHRs may be vulnerable to unauthorized access via internet or other data connections. The encryption of personal health information is a valuable feature, as is a firewall.

Internet Based PHR

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Personal health information is accessed and edited via a web browser. The data is stored on a remote server. Internet based PHRs may have the capability to print, backup, import data from other sources such as a hospital laboratory, and share data with health care providers.

Internet based PHRs are subject to physical loss and damage of the web server. Internet based PHRs may be vulnerable to unauthorized access via internet or other data connections.

Internet based PHRs have the advantage of being accessible from any location with an internet connection with a suitable web browser.

Portable Storage PHR

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Personal health information is recorded and stored on a portable storage device such as a CDROM, DVD, smart card, or USB Flash drive. Some portable storage PHRs provide features such as history editing, data encryption, data importation, and data sharing with health care providers.

Portable storage PHRs are subject to physical loss and damage of the storage device.

Key challenges with a portable storage PHR include lack of penetration of computers and software in physician offices and hospitals that can read and update these PHRs.