DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. is now enabling pharmacy customers to download their prescription histories to a personal Microsoft HealthVault record.

The drug store chain said the new service, rolled out Thursday, gives patients the convenience of linking their Walgreens prescription data to other health and medical records for easy management and the ability to share a complete profile with other health care providers.

Patients can sign up for the online service at www.walgreens.com/healthvault. To link prescription data to an individual HealthVault record, Walgreens pharmacy customers must have an authenticated pharmacy account on Walgreens.com. Registered users can then enroll with HealthVault directly from the Walgreens Web site.

Walgreens announced its agreement to join Microsoft HealthVault, a health application platform that lets users store and share their health data, in early June.

The retailer said millions of registered Walgreens.com users are already accessing their prescription history for refills, tax purposes or personal use. Patients who enroll in the new service will also have daily updates to their prescription information accessible via a personal HealthVault record.

"We’re pleased to be part of the Microsoft HealthVault network," Don Huonker, Walgreens’ senior vice president of health care innovation, said in a statement. "This partnership supports our efforts to promote stronger collaboration among patients and their pharmacists, physicians and other health care providers. Any tool that can help enhance a patient’s interactions with multiple providers stands an excellent chance for improving medical outcomes while lowering health care costs.”

David Cerino, general manager for the consumer health solutions group at Microsoft Corp., noted that the HealthVault service is especially useful for people managing multiple medications for themselves or a family member.

"By combining prescription details with an individual’s broader health history, we are enabling users and their health care providers to develop deeper insights that can be used to develop effective ongoing health management plans," Cerino explained.

Walgreens rival CVS Caremark Corp. launched the HealthVault download service for its retail pharmacy customers in late September and said it has been a partner of Microsoft HealthVault since June 2008.