Personal Health Records (PHRs) systems are a subject of intense interest in the move to improve health care through consumer empowerment. Yet, despite a surge of PHR offerings from a variety of providers, little re- search has been done to learn what prospective users want in a PHR and how they will use these systems. Because managing their personal health care informa- tion is a novel undertaking for most people, traditional technology adoption study methods are difficult to em- ploy in researching PHRs. This paper reports on a us- er-centered design study that combines qualitative and quantitative approaches to investigate how health sta- tus may affect user needs for PHR. Preliminary analy- sis of the results indicates that users with disabilities differ from others in their PHR preferences. The results suggest that a particularly motivating factor for dis- abled individuals is the way in which a PHR will func- tion when emergency services are required.