The future of medicine is to have empowered patients who participate in their healthcare. There is a rising movement in the US and internationally that seeks to make easier the process of obtaining medical records. A recent article on CNN emphasizes the passion and need for patient access to enhance patient satisfaction, reduce risk and injury, and improve higher quality care (http://tiny.cc/tV7y9). It is archaic to continue the concept that hospitals own the medical records. A more modern concept is that hospital and doctors own their copy of records, but the content of the information held within the records belongs to the patient.
However, it is a small victory to merely access medical records. One has to bring life to the information by actually using the data to impact daily living. Wellness ToolBox (http://tinyurl.com/yfnn7p8 ) is a powerful and sophisticated way to utilize medical information to promote wellness and manage illness. MyHealthArchive Ultimate (http://tiny.cc/OsktM) is a highly sophisticated personal health information management system that includes both Wellness ToolBox and personal healthcare information archiving systems.
The time has come to move into the 21st century in attitudes about how we access out medical information as well as how we take an empowered, active role in sustaining our wellness.