Why progress on easier patient access to personal health records is lagging

For the opinion piece, two patient editors for the BMJ explored reasons why access to patients' personal health records has moved much slower compared to other areas of our lives. Here are four reasons progress on patients' access to personal records has been so slow, according to the patient co-authors:

1. Patients may have ethical concerns
2. Patients may have professional and cultural concerns
3. Health inequalities may exacerbate preexisting digital divides
4. There are logistical, technical and legal challenges