As I was reading over the huge stack of discharge teaching my husband was given yesterday one thing it said was that they participate in the View my chart and gave me his number. So I got on the site, put his number in and signed him up. Now I doubt he will ever use it himself but it is very interesting to see the majority of his test results, trends of B/P, weight, all diagnosis and everything. They specifically say up front that not all test results will be available for viewing so I didn't get his cardiac catheterizations. Monday I am going to call my doctors ad see if they participate in the program. It didn't look like this was a local thing.

Our drs office has a sign up /website where we can log in and see our labs, tests, appt info and such, nice and handy, don't have to go looking thru all our papers LOL..

Call me paranoid, but who else has access to those records...intentionally or otherwise?

With love, Erika

I thought the same thing but it's really no different than all the employees in the office having access to your file. They can get all your personal info easily from your file. And there have been a few office workers that I had my doubts about.......

Seems like everytime I go in there they want me to fill out yet another form with all my personal info on it. I finally told them I wouldn't do it unless something had changed and nothing had. I don't like all those papers flying around the office with my personal info on them.

Well yes, but medical information when it is "on-line" can all too easily get into the wrong hands. It could affect one's insurance, employment, child custody, parental fitness battles in court etc if someone got access to one's records who hadn't been given permission to access them.

For example: What if someone sought help for mental stress/anger management from their doc and that doc entered a comment that indicated a concern that the patient may be suicidal/violent? How would that reflect on that person's child custody rights if their X-spouse or social services got hold of that info...perhaps years later?

We are now required to keep medical records for 16 years by law. I keep my patient's files on paper, although I do have access to their other medical records that are on-line. It is quite interesting to read how much information that is recorded in comments for patients that I know quite well, is questionable or outright incorrect. Yet, that information becomes part of that person's permanent record; and may be taken as fact. Even some of what appears in my own records is incorrect.

What if down the road, the law makers decide that insurance companies, employers, researchers or others have a right to access one's medical records? Would you want your employer and potentially your co-workers, to have access to your entire medical record?

In my province, it came to light last year that a university had been given access to some patient records by our Medical Services Plan as part of a research study without patient's consent. That information, which included the medical records of several thousand patients was stored on discs. Those discs were subsequently stolen from the vehicle of one of the researchers, and were never recovered.

I may be old fashioned, but I still believe that what one discusses with their docs or other medical practitioners should remain confidential, and that confidentiality should be fiercely guarded until it is released by the patient to named individuals.

There is the issue of potential hacking as well.
The whole business of on-line information of this nature being so accessible makes me uneasy.

With love, Erika

My hmo has some of my records on line -- mainly blood work and prescriptions. You can also request a refill or an appointment on line.

I'm usually a bit paranoid about privacy & info being stolen or such from drs or dentist offices..

My dentist doesn't even use a computer for basic things the office.
But many offices don't have much security for the paper files either..
SSI#, birth date, phone, address etc are my main concern..
everything an ID thief would love to have..

My drs website doesn't have notes or personal comments showing, just the basic what the appt was for, treatment any rx, any testing etc.
then the labs & appt time, billing.
You can message them or set up appts..
I think they don't allow the drs confidential comments to be added into the system..if so whoever is typing them up would see those comments also..

As far as site hacking, I suppose it would be a similar risk as an actual office break in.. doesn't seem to happen much.

Let's face it, our privacy is shot in this computer age.

Medical practitioners and hospitals are on a "Health Practitioner's Network" up here, so patients don't have access to the specific patient info. The storage of data is on a "Cloud"...which is a misnomer for a huge data base somewhere.

I think that the "View my chart on line" is a separate service, specifically for patients.

Either way, it seems that a lot of our personal info is "out there". For example, when you go to a retailer and they ask for your postal code, if you provide that and use your credit card or a reward card, a hacker can figure out that you are the Jane Doe from Chicago rather than the Jane doe from Seattle.
From there, they can get your address by using the phone book and that is all they may need to track your purchases, your activities, hack into your wireless, steal your mail, obtain your banking info and/or use that info to obtain credit in your name or steal your identity.

Personally, I don't use reward cards, usually pay by cash or by Pay-pal (from a separate account at a bank that is different from my main one), or by credit card with a low credit limit when purchasing on-line. I also don't participate in social media like Facebook, Twitter and the like.

Super paranoid? Yup .
I think that it is very important to guard all of your personal info.

With love, Erika

My credit card has a very high limit on it. Can I have it reduced? I pay my
cr cd off monthly, when I'm able, so never use my limit. I'd be happy with
a limit of about 3500.00.