# What is a personal health record?

> Doctano turns the lab reports you already have into one private, source-linked health timeline, with an AI that answers from your own results.

A personal health record is the one copy of your history that you control. Its value is completeness, not volume.

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A personal health record is health information a person keeps and controls, gathered from their own doctors, labs, and history rather than from one provider system. It can include reports, results, medicines, allergies, conditions, and vaccinations. Its value depends on whether it is complete, dated, and findable.

The term is used loosely. A folder of PDFs, a spreadsheet, a hospital portal, and an app can all be called a personal health record. What separates them is who controls the record and whether it covers more than one provider.

## The short definition

A personal health record is a record of your health information that you manage, drawn from multiple sources, and kept for your own use. It is not the same as the record a hospital keeps about you, even when you can see that record through a portal.

## How it differs from other records

| Record | Who controls it | What it is good for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Hospital or clinic record | The provider | Care within that organization |
| Patient portal | The provider, with access for you | Viewing that provider's records and results |
| Personal health record | You | A whole history across providers |
| Lab results timeline | You | Following values over time |
| Paper folder | You | Keeping original documents |

## What it should contain

- Identity basics and emergency contacts.
- Conditions, surgeries, and hospital admissions.
- Current medicines, doses, and allergies.
- Lab reports and results, with dates and ranges.
- Imaging and procedure reports.
- Vaccinations, and growth records for a child.
- Doctors, specialists, and insurance details.
- Advance care documents, if you have them.

## What makes one usable

A record is useful when it is complete enough to answer a question, dated so a trend is possible, sourced so a value can be checked, searchable by test or date, portable if you change tools, and private to the people you choose.

## Paper, folder, or app

Paper is durable and needs no power, but it is hard to search by value. A cloud folder is easy to carry but has no structure. A spreadsheet can chart a value but needs manual entry. An app can extract and normalize, but you depend on its availability. Many people use more than one, and the important thing is that the original documents survive.

## Where a results timeline fits

A lab results timeline is one part of a personal health record. It follows values across reports and labs, but it does not manage imaging, prescriptions, or visit notes. Doctano is that part: a private, source-linked timeline of lab results. Data export is not available yet, and there is no native app.

## What a personal health record is not

It is not a diagnosis tool, and it does not replace a clinician. It is not automatically shared with your doctors, and it does not update itself when a hospital changes its system. Someone has to keep it current.

## PHR questions

**What is a personal health record?**

Health information that you manage and control, gathered from your own doctors, labs, and history. It can include reports, results, medicines, allergies, conditions, and vaccinations.

**Is a personal health record the same as a patient portal?**

No. A portal is run by a provider and usually shows that provider's records. A personal health record is controlled by you and can draw on several providers.

**What should a personal health record include?**

Conditions, medicines, allergies, lab and imaging reports, vaccinations, doctors, insurance details, and emergency contacts. Dates and sources make it more useful.

**Who owns a personal health record?**

You do, when you keep it. A provider owns its own medical record, even when you can access parts of it through a portal.

**Is Doctano a personal health record?**

It is one part of one: a private, source-linked timeline of lab results. It does not manage imaging, prescriptions, or visit notes, data export is not available yet, and there is no native app.

## Limits

**A record is not a diagnosis.** Keeping information organized helps a conversation with a clinician. It does not replace one, and important values should be checked against the original report.

## Links

- [Homepage](https://doctano.com/)
- [Lab report tracker](https://doctano.com/lab-report-tracker)
- [Organize your reports](https://doctano.com/guides/organize-lab-reports)
- [Family health records](https://doctano.com/guides/family-health-records)
- [Track results over time](https://doctano.com/guides/track-lab-results-over-time)
- [Get old lab reports](https://doctano.com/guides/get-old-lab-reports)
- [All guides](https://doctano.com/guides/)