The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs encourage patient involvement in their health care. Online access to health information allows patients to make informed decisions about their care and share their most recent clinical information with other health care providers and personal caregivers.

The goal of this objective is to allow patients easy access to their health information as soon as possible, so that they can make informed decisions regarding their care or share their most recent clinical information with other health care providers and personal caregivers as they see fit. The patient must be able to access this information on demand, such as through a patient portal or personal health record (PHR).