Digitizing personal health records may very well be integral in efforts to create better-informed patients, as any real change in the overall health of the general public must stem from better decisions being made by individuals. So how can digitizing medical records create healthier patients over time? It’s simple: by creating a personal health record, patients immediately have more control over their own medical histories, allowing them to work more closely with medical professionals and, ultimately, to make better decisions when it comes to managing their health.

Patients who have a digital personal health record can authorize physicians and other healthcare professionals to access (and add content to) their secure medical histories, thereby making it easier than ever to keep things up to date. Active, engaged patients will not only make better decisions when it comes to their own health, but they will also work with providers to make more meticulous choices than the current healthcare system often does. As a result, costs and surgery rates are likely to decline since records are all in one place, also reducing the chance for medical errors.

The fact that most of our nation’s medical records are not already in digital form seems mind-boggling when you compare it to, say, the way we track our financial records, but the ball is finally rolling to make electronic medical records a reality. Nothing is more important than our health, and keeping accurate, accessible records is essential to proper healthcare management.