Future personal health records as a foundation for computational health

Personal Health Records (PHRs) and other emerging health information technologies create the potential for the capture and storage of a much greater quantity and quality of health data in the future. PHRs in particular provide a likely more privacy supporting form of electronic health data storage. This paper discusses how new health information technologies can support richer future health record data and how these records can provide a foundation for current and future applications of computational science approaches, supporting what might be called Computational Health.