Era of Personal Health Records in Korea

Abstract

In line with the global trend of digital transformation, the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare is strongly promoting strategies for the digital transformation of healthcare.Promising digital health technologies, such as mobile health, digital therapeutics, social robots, and virtual reality, are patient-centered technologies.These technologies should not only help to care for patients, but should also be constructed to reflect patients' needs and values .For these purposes, patients' medical information and health data must be integrated and linked with these technologies.Personal health records (PHRs) are the technology that makes this possible.Digital transformations in healthcare that are valuable to patients are possible only if patient information flows safely without blockage.PHRs are known to provide various benefits to healthcare stakeholders, including patients [1].Significant results have been reported not only in terms of clinical outcomes, but also for patient activation, engagement, satisfaction, and safety.Developed countries provide PHRs that allow patients to access their medical information and manage their health data.The United States enacted the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009 and invested a substantial amount of budget and resources to ensure that certified Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) were established in clinics and hospitals [2].The certified EMR requirements include a patient portal that provides medical information to patients as an essential