Bridging a Gap in the Proposed Personal Health Record

The emerging electronic health record infrastructure is guiding records to be stored in repositories that collectively supply a patient's comprehensive health history. However, legal and technological constraints may keep such a system from delivering health histories in a timely manner (i.e., when medical attention is needed). To get around this, we propose a design for a portable personal health record system that complies with HIPAA standards of security and interaction. The authenticity of stored records on this PHR is automatically verifiable, increasing its usefulness to health care providers. Our initial work suggests that it is possible to develop a useful, yet secure PHR.