During Phase I Connecting for Health produced successful results that serve as the foundation for its current work. There were three Working Groups: the Data Standards Working Group, the Privacy and Security Working Group, and the Personal Health Working Group.

The Connecting for Health initiative recognized that one central element of an integrated national information system is development and use of a Personal Health Record (PHR). The Personal Health Working Group examined the role of the personal health record as part of the overall network of information resources, helping patients be full participants in their care and allowing them to benefit from health decisions made with the best available evidence. The Working Group supported development of personal health records that are controlled by the patient or family, are private, confidential, and secure, and are designed to interact with both community and provider-based information systems.

The Personal Health Working Group identified consumer requirements, concerns, and values that must be addressed as PHR technology is refined and implemented. It listened carefully to the experiences and views of information technology vendors, health systems, and consumers themselves.

The group focused on:

• Developing a baseline framework of the best available evidence regarding expected benefits of PHR, consumer and patient requirements for and concerns about PHR, clinical and technical concerns about PHR, and recent experience of health systems and commercial vendors in developing and marketing PHR technology.
• Articulating a shared vision for the attributes of both the PHR and the related components of the NHII.
• Articulating and documenting the high-value uses of PHR.
• Advocating for inclusion of patient and consumer needs and values in the development of technologies that enable patients to access their health information.
• Promoting the development and/or identification of data standards relevant to the PHR.