CHICAGO – Vanguard Health Systems will soon offer a personal health record to its employees.

Officials at the Chicago-based health system said the PHR, developed by Dossia, will only be offered to a select group of employees. The system plans to make it available to all employees by the end of the year, and officials also announced plans to offer the PHR to patients of Vanguard's 15 acute care hospitals and complementary facilities in Chicago, Phoenix, Ariz., San Antonio, Texas and Massachusetts.

“I am very pleased that Vanguard is able to offer the Dossia Personal Health Record to our employees,” said Brad Perkins, MD, Vanguard's executive vice president of strategy and innovation and chief transformation officer. “We see Dossia as an integral component of our efforts to innovate and change healthcare for the better. Real change will only come once individuals have access to and control over their information.”

Dossia is a non-profit organization consiting of several large U.S. employers. Vanguard Health, which joined the Dissa Founders Group in 2009, is the second member to make use of the PHR, following Walmart's rollout last year, and the alliance plans to make the PHR available to all members by the end of the year.

“Healthy and happy employees are more productive and will spend less on healthcare," said Colin Evans, president and CEO of Dossia. He said the PHR is a platform for launching wellness capabilities to large companies who will "be able to derive better value from their existing wellness programs."