ajfortin.com

Matthew Shulman writes in U.S. News and World Report about how you can put together your own electronic personal health record (PHR). “Hospitals and physicians are putting their cumbersome paper medical records into much more easily accessed and manipulated electronic form. Now you can, too,” says Shulman. He points to a number of programs on the market that can make sure you have “essential health care information at your finger tips.”

Shulman does admit that “it takes some work—and computer savvy—to get started,” since of course “it’s up to the patient to gather the data from his or her team of doctors and upload or input the information into the program. ” No kidding.

Herein lies the rub. For most people, this is a non-starter. Nah gonna do it. At least not in the numbers that would make any difference to anyone, say if there were another Hurricane Katrina.

The sad truth is that adoption and use of PHRs is minimal even when it’s free and the personal health info is automatically populated by health plans or medical providers. What people say they want in surveys, and what they actually use are often at odds with each other, with PHRs being an unfortunate case in point.

Now, there are a few survivalists, geeks and other compulsive types who may want to go in this direction. You know who you are and god bless you all. For those of you so inclined you can click over to MyPHR.com. to get advice on how to create a PHR. It’s actually pretty good.

And while I wish the rest of us would get on board with you, I’m afraid you’re still a lone voice in the American health care wilderness.