How to Create a Personal Health Record

A personal health record (PHR) is a comprehensive, patient-maintained collection of medical information — diagnoses, medications, allergies, test results, immunizations, surgical history, family history, and health care contacts. Unlike the medical records maintained by individual providers and hospitals, which are fragmented across multiple institutions and may not communicate with each other, a PHR brings all this information together in one place that you control and can share with any provider at any time.

In an era when the average American sees multiple physicians across multiple healthcare systems — none of which may have complete access to your full medical history — a well-maintained PHR can prevent dangerous medication errors, avoid redundant testing, enable more informed decision-making, and ensure that emergency or new providers have critical information immediately available.

Why A Phr Matters

Healthcare in the United States is extraordinarily fragmented. Your primary care physician's electronic health record may not communicate with the hospital where you were admitted, which may not communicate with the specialist who treats you in a different health system, which may not communicate with the urgent care center you visited while traveling. Each transition creates an information gap that can lead to errors, omissions, and redundant testing.