The Missing Link: Bridging The Patient-Provider Health Information Gap -- Tang and Lansky 24 (5): 1290 -- Health Affairs

The Missing Link: Bridging The Patient-Provider Health Information Gap -- Tang and Lansky 24 (5): 1290 -- Health Affairs: "How does an EHR differ from a PHR? One way to view the difference is to consider the intended user. An EHR is a collection of health information that has been gathered by and is managed by an enterprise—typically a doctor’s office, a hospital, or an integrated system. In today’s health care system, one patient might have several EHRs under the control of various organizations. No one EHR has all of the patient’s health information. Fully integrated systems, such as those of Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), come closest to having comprehensive information on their patients. In contrast, a PHR is meant to address the health information needs of the individual patient or consumer. In addition to the provider-centric recording of the patient’s interaction with the health care system, a PHR would include information, entered by the patient, about daily symptoms, over-the-counter medicines taken, personal exercise programs, special diets, or data from home monitoring devices. By combining personal health information with knowledge about diseases and their treatment, a PHR system can provide tools to help patients become more active participants in their own health care."