Imagine someone had been managing your data:
next anecdoteComments on: --

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 22:08:53 +0000

I agree with Ann, the best defense is a good offense. I am managing my family’s healthcare along with my mother, who has recently been diagnosed with hypertension in an online version, HealthVault, which is just easier for me than paper. I wish I had access to all of my family’s records, but until I get to see them, I rely on what I can create for myself. I have seen a lot lately talking about access to your records, and I do wonder whose they really are? I am paying the doctor for a service, so would the record be technically considered a description of the service, sort of like what your repairman would hand you? Or because the doctor has added his professional insight to the record, does it become his? I don’t know. But I should at least be able to see them, right?

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:10:13 +0000

A large part of this problem rests on an interesting question. Who owns the medical record? Providers have, with various levels of justification, always maintained that the medical record belongs to the organization that creates and maintains it. I can understand that. But, at the same time, no one has more at stake than the patient if that medical record is inaccurate, and (in most cases) no one is in a better position to spot errors than the patient or their responsible relatives. So the patient has to be seen as having rights, as well.

Yet many facilities act as if the last thing they want is for the patient to see their own chart.

To be fair in my comment, I will mention some powerful forces that drive that attitude:

Practitioners are increasingly faced with heavier schedules, to make up for reduced reimbursements, and they can’t take extra time to explain notes in the medical record. Patient CAN become much harder to manage after they misunderstand information in their medical chart. Medical records contain some of the most specialized knowledge available to mankind, and that knowledge often DOES require translation or interpretation to the uninitiated.

What we need is balance. How we achieve that is at the heart of the debate, and will depend on technology, patient education, a shift in understanding about who is responsible for the data and the decisions made from that data, and lots of time and patience.

By: Ann Blanchard

Ann Blanchard — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 02:10:22 +0000

Reading about Kate’s and Dave’s experiences with EHRs confirms my belief that a wise patient will maintain their own personally managed back-up copy of their medical history and medication records, whether it’s in the form of a paper record like http://www.handirecords or in an electronic format on one’s phone or some other personally managed electronic record.

As a caregiver, I am responsible for tracking medical information for my mom, dad and myself. Without my own back-up copy, I couldn’t necessarily tell you if the hospital’s EHR on any of us was correct. I have too many things going on to remember it all.

By: jranck

jranck — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 02:33:57 +0000

Imagine someone had been managing your data:next anecdote | e-Patients.net http://bit.ly/k4WyR

By: ICMCC Website - Articles » Blog Archive » Imagine someone had been managing your data: next anecdote

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:02:42 +0000

[...] Article e-Patient Dave, e-Patients.net, 19 June 2009 SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Imagine someone had been managing your data: next anecdote”, url: “http://articles.icmcc.org/2009/06/19/imagine-someone-had-been-managing-your-data-next-anecdote/” }); [...]

By: Lodewijk Bos

Lodewijk Bos — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:02:02 +0000

Amen!!! You are so right.

By: e-Patient Dave

e-Patient Dave — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:25:52 +0000

David, I’ve told several (knowledgeable) people about the story you just mentioned, and most of them have said “That’s illegal.” (These were people who should know.) What’s up with that, do you know?

Are our privacy rules so convoluted and poorly managed that even the people in the business don’t know what’s what? (Regardless of which party’s right, that appears to be the case, because people in the business are taking each side.)

By: David C. Kibbe, MD MBA

David C. Kibbe, MD MBA — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:10:59 +0000

Dave: Great, great post, as usual. Kate’s experience is an example of what I spoke to you about a while back, in which the hospital refused to let a patient see her own records, because they had been confused with another person’s, and, under HIPAA, viewing the co-mingled record would ipso facto involve viewing someone else’s records illegally and without authority to do so. So, mixing up a person’s identity is a cause for refusing access to one’s own records! There are actually a number of law cases in which this has occurred.
Doesn’t sound as though this happened to Kate, but it might have.
In any case, your conclusions are spot on.
Regards, dCK

By: ePatientDave

ePatientDave — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:56:41 +0000

Arg! Patients MUST have control over their medical records! http://is.gd/16djH (New anecdote of mess, on e-patients.net) http://bit.ly/6BDyF

Imagine someone had been managing your data:next anecdoteComments on: --