{"id":547,"date":"2010-12-29T17:44:31","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T00:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/healthit.hhs.gov\/blog\/onc\/?p=547"},"modified":"2026-01-06T15:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T15:11:10","slug":"personal-health-records-roundtable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthit.gov\/blog\/insights-updates\/personal-health-records-roundtable\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Health Records Roundtable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Understanding the Evolving Landscape<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Personal health records (PHRs) have the potential to give individuals more control over their health information — collecting, using, and sharing it as they see fit. On December 3, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), held a PHR Roundtable to gain a better understanding of PHRs as well as other emerging technologies, and the dynamic and evolving market in which they exist, with a focus on privacy and security. The Roundtable will help inform a congressionally mandated study and a report to Congress on entities not covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). ONC expects to deliver the report to Congress in 2011. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. David Blumenthal, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, introduced the Roundtable by noting that PHRs are likely to grow in importance as more health care providers meaningfully use electronic health records (EHRs). A major objective of incentives encouraging the meaningful use of EHRs is to engage patients and their families in their health care. PHRs and related technologies can further this objective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Usefulness and Trustworthiness of PHRs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

At the PHR Roundtable, four panels of experts and industry representatives explored the growth of PHRs, focusing on the nature and adequacy of privacy and security protections. A key message from the Roundtable was that PHRs grow in value when people find them useful and trustworthy. Their usefulness grows as they are able to readily pull information from EHRs and other sources of clinical information, as well as from monitoring devices and mobile applications. The usefulness increases even more as that information can be organized to help people with their particular health care concerns and can inform clinical decision making.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Roundtable confirmed that people care about the trustworthiness of PHRs, which includes considerations of privacy, confidentiality, and security. However, often individuals do not have the ability or information to understand or evaluate the trustworthiness of a particular PHR and related service providers. As PHRs merge health information from health care providers with information from other sources and give individuals choices about how to use or disclose that information, the privacy and security issues associated with PHRs increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Privacy and Security Protection<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the PHR Roundtable, representatives of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), HHS Office for Civil Rights, and California Office of Privacy Protection explained how they are active in oversight of PHRs. They provided attendees with an overview of the primary ways that the privacy and security of health information in PHRs is protected under current federal law:<\/p>\n\n\n\n