Breaking NewsInsurers to unite on personal health records

A coalition including the nation's largest health plans intends to begin offering consumers a Web-based personal health record in a pilot program this fall. The coalition includes members of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and America's Health Insurance Plans, potentially representing 200 million Americans. The coalition's plan is significant partly because it could create an insurer-based national health information network as an alternative to regional health information networks. The program still needs further organizational approvals. -- by Joseph Conn