When Elizabeth Cohen, CNN medical correspondent, was researching an article about online health records, she was surprised to stumble upon her own personal health information online. Every diagnosis, treatment, and doctor‘s appointment she‘d had since 2003 was on the Internet -- all she needed to get them was a phone call to her insurance company and a few pieces of information such as Social Security number, date of birth and address.

Online health records can let you, to some extent, double-check your doctor. And in a world where physicians are busy and medical errors are epidemic, that could be important.

"Having medical records online helps me take better care of you, and helps you take better care of yourself," says Dr. Daniel Sands, senior medical informatics director at Cisco.

Online medical records may also help you if you need medical care while traveling, and can’t remember the names of your medications or diagnoses. Just access a computer, and your medical information is at your fingertips.

But even enthusiasts of online medical records admit that no system is 100 percent secure. Experts like Dr. Steven Schwaitzberg, associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, advise only allowing information online "you wouldn‘t mind reading on the front page of your local newspaper."