We have all been told that “we have to take control of our lives” but taking control now includes taking control of monitoring our health records.
Until the last few years your health records were sitting on a shelf in a paper chart with thousands of other health records. We have all been to the doctor’s office and seen those stacks of charts lined up behind the receptionist. The only thing stopping someone from accessing your health records was simply picking the health record up off the shelf and then reading the health record. Unless your doctor has a way of locking the shelves at night, your health records were available to everyone included the cleaning crew. To you, accessing your health records meant signing a request form and then traveling to your doctor’s office to pick up copies of your health records. In many cases, patients were charged for this service and the staff time involved to make copies of your health records on the copy machine.
As of June 2012, it is estimated that about 40% of doctors still utilize some type of paper charts to record and store your health records. At the same time, the majority of doctors have adopted Electronic Health Records (EHR) in lieu of paper charts. The benefit to the doctor is centralizing the patient records while being able to access specific patient data without the need to flip through paper charts. Regardless of the method a doctor is using (EHR -vs- Paper Charts), there is a great deal of information recorded in your health record.
Documents and data from each patient visit, lab tests, each hospital visit, previous prescriptions, current prescriptions, problem lists and allergies are all stored in your health record. With the possibility that one doctor may record your health records in a paper chart and that another doctor may record your health records in an electronic health record (EHR) is becomes even more critical to ensure the clinical data on file is complete and accurate. A patient that does not have an “accurate” health record is at greater risk of drug interactions or overdoses, and may miss out on critical preventive care or lab test results. For patients with chronic conditions, having an “incomplete” health record can make it more difficult to track the gradual signs that the condition is getting worse.
There are many benefits in taking control of your health records that include:
You can eliminate duplicate testing and the associated costs related to this testing
You can avoid medication reactions related to inaccurate health data
You can ensure your doctor has the most accurate data required to streamline the medical decision required for quality patient care
Taking the time each month to access your health records will ensure that your doctor has the most accurate data on file and provide the data required to make the proper medical diagnosis for each visit. If your doctor is “not” currently providing online access to your health records then please recommend they contact www.ViewMyHealthRecords.com so that you can stay in control of your health records.