University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has published an article this week on the Personal Health Records (PHRs) market.  Article provides an overview on some of the key issues regarding PHRs, which may be useful for the layman, but unfortunately, they overlook a number of key points and in a couple of cases are just plain wrong on points they do make.

For example, they completely miss Microsoft’s HealthVault Connection Center capabilities yet conclude the article saying how the future may bring PHRs together with devices. Hey guys, the future’s already here! And like many before them, they refer to HealthVault as a PHR, but it is not. HealthVault is a PHP (personal health platform) on which other apps will sit, including PHRs.

The author also completely misses the multitude of PHRs now being sponsored by payers (Aetna, various BC/BS organizations, etc.), provider portals and even employers such as the big Dossia initiative and instead spend far too much time on Microsoft and Google (and Google doesn’t even have a product!).

These shortcomings are unfortunate, as the article does sincerely try to provide a comprehensive view but ultimately is misleading with gaps that are inexcusable.