Greater use of electronic health records among physicians may increase the utilization of personal health records by patients, experts say. This growing trend could have important implications for the future of the healthcare system.

Personal health records allow individuals to keep track of the health services they have received. However, these systems often lack all the data that doctors generate.

Yet, Liz Boehm, an analyst at Forester Research, told PC World that as more doctors begin to use EHRs, the data they generate could be linked to patient's personal health records, giving individuals a more complete view of their medical history.

A recent commentary published in the journal Health Affairs said that wider use of personal health records among patients could be "invaluable." This is largely because many health experts believe that getting patients more involved in their own treatment will result in less reliance on the healthcare system and lower overall costs.

Doctors can play a role in encouraging patients to adopt personal health records by implementing their own EHR systems. As more data migrates to electronic formats, it may become easier to share.