Interoperability of electronic health records and personal health records: key interoperability issues associated with information exchange.

As patients receive medical care, their clinical history may be tracked and recorded by multiple electronic systems developed by independent vendors. Medical providers might use electronic health record (EHR) software tailored to the needs of trained medical personnel, whereas patients may interact with personal health records (PHR). The purpose of this essay is to identify the key interoperability issues associated with the information exchange between these two types of systems and offer an approach for enhancing interoperability. This article is part of a series of unpublished essays titled A Community View on How Personal Health Records Can Improve Patient Care and Outcomes in Many Healthcare Settings, a collaborative project of Northern Illinois Physicians For Connectivity and the Coalition for Quality and Patient Safety of Chicagoland. For further information on how you can obtain copies of the complete work, contact the principle Dr. Stasia Kahn at Stash5@sbcglobal.net.