Electronic Health Records - A good thing?
Last week Google announced that they were partnering with the Cleveland Clinic to store records of 100,000 patients online.
"The ultimate goal of this patient-centered and controlled model is to give patients the ability to interact with multiple physicians, healthcare service providers and pharmacies" says the press release.
Online Personal Health Records (PHRs) are not new. Microsoft launched HealthVault last October, and there are many other systems within private medical groups and from third-party companies.
There are two major advantages of having an online PHR:
- Convenience: You have ready access to all your health records - at home, when traveling, in an emergency.
- Control: You authorize who sees your records. You can ensure that your records from one doctor are immediately available to another doctor.
But there is a serious downside of online PHR: the risk of loss of privacy.
This is similar to the concern that people had about their financial records a few years ago. While online databases have been successfully hacked into, there has NOT been a rash of identity thefts from such hackings. More identity thefts take place OFFline than online.
Also, your medical records are probably already on some electronic data base within your physicians' offices and clinics. Even if they are not, there is no guarantee that your paper records are 100% protected from prying eyes.
But it's more complicated than that. Privacy watchdogs such as the World Privacy Forum point out that there are additional risks with PHRs that many people are unaware of -- for example, that storing your medical records on a third party website may not be protected under HIPAA.
Here are some of their recommendations:
- Don't assume that your medical records are protected no matter where they are stored.
- To see if a third-party PHR is covered under HIPAA, read their privacy statement, which should disclose whether they are covered or not, and also how they will use your information. "HIPAA compliant" is not enough. It should read "HIPAA covered."
- Take time to read the fine print, and pay attention to what you are authorizing and signing.
- More tips are in the document: "World Privacy Forum Consumer Advisory: The Potential Privacy Risks in Personal Health Records Every Consumer Needs to Know About"
If you want the convenience of electronic records but don't want them stored online, you can always keep your own records on your computer, on a CD or on a little thumb drive. But keep in mind that these are not 100% safe either, even when protected by a password.
Bottom line: Only you can decide if the risk of PHRs is worth the convenience.
WHAT DO YOU THINK? Please take a moment to write your comments on this issue.
Pauline
teachmeinternet.com
