The federal government is investing over 25 billion in electronic medical records over the next couple of years
Under federal law, every patient or a designated representative has the right to see and copy the patient's medical records but this access is often delayed or cost prohibitive. EHR's all have the ability to open up a patient portal to the data.
Patients and patient centered care are at the core of a high quality, effective, safe, timely, efficient and equitable health care system and we know that when patients have access to data they make better health care decisions and we get better outcomes.
In order to put patients at the center of our health we need the data - so require health care providers who get federal money for an EHR to open the EHR portal to patients.