The other day I was listening to music when I noticed that the sound wasn’t right. After a few minutes I found that one of the speaker wires had come loose. My stereo system – without that wire attached – wasn’t really a system. It hit me that the same could be said of our health care system. Oftentimes the various components aren’t connected. Perhaps our specialist is across town and not part of the hospital network. We might be on vacation and need to access care – again, the provider of care is not connected to the rest of our care. What we needed, I realized, was a health care system that revolved around us not around institutions – a Personal Health Care System – with the patient at the center and their doctors, hospitals and others as integral team members in the system.How do we get to a Personal Health Care System? A critical first step is that the patient has to have access to their medical information irrespective of where that care is provided. Personal Health Records (PHRs) provide a repository for medical data to meet this need. But, a PHR, alone,  isn’t connected to anything.Next generation PHRs, like our SHAPE PHR,™ bring us closer to having a Personal Health System by working with doctors, hospitals and other providers to communicate and input information into the PHR. These connections,with the patient at the center – and with the patient’s permission – maintain a more complete record of a patient’s care and allow other providers to have a more complete picture of the patient’s health care. As importantly, doctors and medical providers must be assured that the PHR is HIPAA-compliant (as the SHAPE PHR is). A PHR of this type will encourage doctors to provide data thereby reflecting care no matter where it is received within the hospital or provider network or across the globe.The next step is the most important. A Personal Health System must be at your fingertips when you need it. Our SHAPE Card™ allows the patient to securely and privately access their PHR with their SHAPE Card and their fingerprint in the doctor’s office or at the hospital. We’re using the power of the Internet powered by the most powerful security and encryption technology to make this Personal Health System private, reliable and secure.What can a Personal Health System mean for someone? For a starter, no more annoying clipboards at the doctor’s office. No more fear that, in an emergency a drug allergy will be overlooked. And, studies show that quality of care is enhanced and costs are reduced for patients, medical providers and insurers.A Personal Health System – connecting care with the patient at the center and the medical community as integral parts of the team – now that’s music to my ears.SHAPE – Secure information at the tip of your finger.