"Health information technology is the best medicine we can get."

- HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson,
July 21,2004, upon the release of
The Decade of Health Information Technology report

The Importance of Personal Electronic Health Records (PEHR)
We're familiar with the technology that supports banks and grocery stores in personalizing information about us, and now policy makers and medical authorities agree that bridging the information gap that too often exists between individuals and their health care systems is an important priority.

In the 1980s, computer-based patient records (CPR) revolutionized the way in which information was collected and stored when paper-based information began to be captured in image formats for later reference. Electronic medical record (EMR) systems followed, managing patient data that originated in electronic form, data that was usually owned and managed by a single provider organization. The next step is electronic health records (EHR) that operate beyond a single, proprietary information system to create a lifetime medical record that can be carried by the patient.

Advanced PEHR Technology in the Barlett^® Device
The Bartlett^® is a new transportable medical records software system that connects patients to their own health information in ways that encourage their participation in health-care decision-making, and that supports stronger relationships between patients, healthcare professionals, and insurance companies. The Bartlett^® is a USB flash drive the size of a key chain that plugs into the USB port of a PC and contains the PEHR patient-managed medical records software program and a patient's complete medical history.