By Robert Gellman

Personal health records – or PHRs – are a relatively new phenomenon in health care today. As discussed here, a PHR is a health record about a consumer that includes data gathered from different sources (e.g., health care providers, insurers, the consumer, and third parties such as gyms and others) and is made accessible, often online, to the consumer and to those authorized by the consumer. Businesses large and small are moving to take advantage of the potentially lucrative new business model PHRs provide, especially as leveraged through the Internet. Some of the newest PHR players include large and well-known technology companies, but some health care providers, insurers, and employers also promote PHRs. There are dozens of different PHR vendors.

As a new type of convenience technology for consumers, PHRs are promoted as giving consumers more knowledge and an opportunity to be more actively engaged in their own health care. Physicians, insurers, laboratories, and others who create or handle a consumer’s health care records can deposit copies of records in the consumer’s PHR. A consumer can also put information in his or her PHR, depending on the PHR system.

One alleged promise of PHRs is that consumers will have more control over their own health care because their information will be more accessible to them. PHRs may offer some benefits for consumers, but there are also potential negative consequences both for consumers and for the health care system at large that have not been carefully examined. It is crucial for consumers to understand the potential privacy consequences that exist before they share sensitive health information outside the health care system.

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