Health Care Reform 101: Health Record Soup

Where is your health information stored?

If you need to make a medical decision for yourself or a member of your family, how would you get that information?

Regina Holliday learned the hard way that her critically ill husband's health information was not easily or freely accessible when he needed it most. It was "stuck" in a hospital EMR.

So, what is an EMR (or EHR or PHR)?

To some extent, the terms EMR, EHR, and PHR are used interchangeably, although each one is thought to be slightly different.

EMR - electronic medical record
EHR - electronic health record
PHR - personal health record

What's the difference?

The definitions above were borrowed from John Halamka's "A Healthcare IT Primer post" on The Health Care Blog.

As a patient, why should you care?

A lot of money is about to be invested in U.S. health information technology (HIT). A portion of that money will specifically go to build and expand EHR systems. Will you, as a patient, have access to your health information if and when you need it? How easy will it be to get it? How quickly will you be able to get it?