SAN FRANCISCO – Practice Fusion has launched a new personal health record designed to provide patients with access to their health information.

Announced by officials of the San Francisco-based company at the Salesforce.com user and developer conference, Dreamforce 2009, being held in San Francisco, Patient Fusion was developed on the Force.com platform and is expected to connect one million patients throughout the country to physicians and their medical records.

“We're unlocking the physician EHR to give patients access and control over their own health data," said Ryan Howard, the CEO of Practice Fusion, which now offers a free, Web-based electronic health record application and delivery model for physicians and their patients.

Company officials said Patient Fusion was developed to give patients easy access to their own medical records, medications and immunization history. With the PHR, officials say, the patient can view medical record updates in real-time through cloud computing and scheduling appointments, request prescription refills, contact physicians via e-mail and share personal health data with other providers.

The PHR was designed to help patients increase health information exchange among healthcare providers, officials said. Patients own their medical information, they said, and they should have the ability to share it on their terms.

"The healthcare and life sciences community is a rapidly growing sector," said Clarence So, senior vice president of strategy at Salesforce.com, which invested in Practice Fusion in August and now holds a minority interest in the company. "The Force.com platform allows companies like Practice Fusion to quickly innovate around a common objective for improving health.”