PHR - Is it for you?

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With the talk of healthcare stimulus, the healthcare IT is in a spotlight with everyone from healthcare IT companies, healthcare IT associations and obviously the fed making a strong case for adoption of PHR which is an abbreviation of Personal Health Record.
Personal Health Records refers to a digitized version of an individual's health history. The health information remains the same, but stored, presented and shared in ways not possible with a paper version of health history.
In traditional or non-electronic health records, the patient's health history such as doctor visits, symptoms, medications, surgeries, allergies, chronic illness, blood group etc are written or printed on a sheets of paper and stacked in the doctor's office shelves or cupboards. This has been the traditional and de factor way of storing your health history.
Is there anything wrong or fundamentally flawed in this approach? Certainly not. It has served the purpose of storing and referring your health information, whenever needed.
So, why do we need an electronic version of your health history? The answer is simple. It's the equivalent of your credit card. It has all the advantages of a credit card over carrying cash.
With credit/debit card,
You don't have to carry cash.
Your spending is tracked for you to view anytime.
Your spending reports helps you plan your expenses ahead.
Your financial ability is shared with people you would like to share. In this case, the stores where you make purchase can access your card balance before the purchase.
You don't have to wait in the queue to know your account balance or withdraw money. Just use the ATM machine.. day and night, whenever you like.
PHR has the same advantages as above. They are
Your health information is stored online and available to you 24 hours.
You own your health information. They are not locked up anymore in doctor's offices.
Your choose to share the health information with anyone you would like to share [Doctors, Nurse, Hygienist, Mom, Dad, Son, Daughter etc.]
Your health information now has intelligence to tell you more about your health and alert you on required actions such as your impending immunization, next doctor visit, your Body Mass Index etc.

Well.. just like credit cards come with their own problems, PHRs bring in concerns too..
Let's have a quick glance at those:
Your health information stored online is as safe as your credit card. If your credit card can be hacked or stolen, then your PHR can be too. This is a risk.. beyond your control!
You need to have minimal computer literacy to manage your own record. But, again one of your trusted well wishers can manage it for you.
Just like every other system in the world has its own advantages and disadvantages, PHRs have their own.
But, PHRs are anticipated to be ubiquitous given the benefits it brings to the human community and the healthcare system!