PHR (personal health record)… EMR (electronic medical record)… EHR (electronic health record)… PMR (personal medical record)… what do they all mean? Although these acronyms are different, they all refer to the same basic concept: an electronic health record, or EHR.  EHRs are part of a growing trend to securely store and access health information electronically. An EHR is a sort of electronic filing cabinet for medical records such as lab tests, prescriptions, allergies and a patient’s medical history. An EHR can be easily updated and organized by your physician.  Proponents believe that EHRs improve communication and efficiency among health care providers and therefore result in better care for patients.

Use of EHRs in physician offices is growing. Google ,Inc recently launched a service designed for consumers. Google Health,is a free online personal account you can use to collect and store your personal health information. You can also choose to share your health information electronically with any health care provider or service that has signed on as a Google Health partner. Those partners currently include the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston; laboratory testing giant Quest Diagnostics; select retail pharmacies, health benefits companies and others.  With more partners in the pipeline, Google expects their network to expand.
 
Also, Google Health users will soon be able to extend online access to their physicians who are not affiliated with a Google Health partner. Those physicians will be able to take a peek—but only with their patient’s permission—at the patient’s most current health information. However, the record will be read-only (the physician won’t be able to make any changes or additions).

In support of Google’s effort, The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has been playing an important behind-the-scenes role in lending technical expertise to Google. "Google has been working with the AAFP and looks to us as leaders in figuring out how to get data in and out of physician practices," said Steve Waldren, M.D., director of the AAFP’s Center for Health Information Technology.  Waldren looks for the launch of the Google initiative to create positive waves throughout the country's health care system. Google Health "empowers consumers to be active participants in their care and potentially provides a single conduit for medical information from multiple sources," said Waldren. Both concepts support the patient-centered medical home, (3-page PDF; About PDFs) a health care model that the Academy champions, he added.

Watch this video to learn more about EHRs.

What do you think about EHRs?  Will you create one for yourself?  Let us know.