The Life's Second Chance Foundation

Family history helps predict risk for health conditions as varied as cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes and obesity. More than that, this knowledge can help steer health care to be most effective for each individual – for example, by guiding a patient to get screened for colorectal cancer earlier than standard recommendations because of a family history of this disease. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of their families' health histories, and many health professionals underutilize this information. This tool will help to change this by providing a user-friendly, web-based program that can be stored and sent as part of an electronic health record.

"My Family Health Portrait," at familyhistory.hhs.gov/fhh-web/home.action, is a web-based tool developed by the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General that makes it easy for consumers to record their family health history. It can be reached on the web when there's time to complete the tool – typically 15 to 20 minutes. And the information can be made part of a permanent record and easily updated, which means people don't have to keep filling out forms when they see new practitioners.

The tool gives control to the individual. By going to the tool on the web, people get access to software that will organize their information into a "pedigree" or family tree. Their information is never kept or stored by the tool itself – it is returned to them via download into their computer. So privacy of the information-gathering process is guaranteed.

The tool makes it easy to share the information with physicians and other practitioners, at your own discretion. In this way, your doctor receives the information in the standard format that makes the information most useful. People who wish to share their information with other family members can also do that easily. Family members can then add information, as well as beginning their own family health history.