Rapid, convenient, and full access to personal electronic health records is a key part of empowering patients to manage their health and collaborate with healthcare, argue Maria Hägglund and colleaguesThe need for digital health solutions to manage health and care became more apparent than ever during the covid-19 pandemic.1 Patient empowerment is essential in such a health crisis. Empowerment requires both access to information and the tools and competence to make informed decisions.During the pandemic, digital provision of information and access to care was implemented and adopted at rates never seen before. Having online access to personal health records has proved an important tool for patient empowerment.234 To cope with social distancing measures, use of telemedicine soared and use of patient portals increased rapidly. In some health systems, platforms for telemedicine visits were offered only through logging into a portal, so patient access to online health records was spurred by video visits.1 Patients were also asked to report covid-19 symptoms through various mobile apps and to carry digital proof of vaccination and covid-19 test results.In parallel with this increased use of digital health solutions, the importance of accessible and structured health data was also emphasized by policy makers internationally. In the United States, a federal rule from the 21st Century Cures Act mandated US healthcare providers to offer patients access to all the health information in their electronic medical records without charge.5 In Europe, the European Health Data Space was proposed in May 2022, with the aim to empower people to control and use their health data in their home country or in other member states and to offer “a consistent, trustworthy, and efficient framework to use health data for research, innovation, policy making, and regulatory activities, while ensuring full compliance …