Improvement in patient management and information flow between different health care institutions is a challenge. Norway is now about to establish an electronic network in health care. The aim is to ensure correct, fast and safe flow of information at reduced costs and higher quality. Electronic patient records is currently used by 90% of all primary care doctors and the hospitals are now installing electronic patient record systems. The upcoming electronic network communication is likely to result in an explosion in the amount of medical data available about a patient, and thereby a high risk of information overflow. In particular, the records of elderly patients and patients with chronic diseases may store large amounts of data which may obscure the physician's overview of the medical history. Thus, a core part of the medical record needs to be defined. It must contain clinical key information about the patient. Besides being stored in the ordinary medical record, this core record may also be stored on a smart card which the patient may carry on him. We think the primary care, personal doctor, should be the editor of the core record. The smart card may serve as an information bridge between various electronic record systems and may be used as an ID card whereby the patient gives the doctor access to the information contained in the card and probably also to distant databases which contain medical data about the patient.