As a recent guest on the Dr. Ronald Hoffman Health Talk radio show on WOR-710, Dr. Hoffman asked me about concerns around the electronic health record, or EHR. Dr. Hoffman recounted some of the stories regarding individual’s loss of privacy in their medical records because information was leaked onto the internet by a hospital or the physician’s office. My response was (and is) three fold:
- Privacy of your health information is paramount.....everyone agrees on this. We all need to rest assured that our medical record information will remain private, protected, and used only by health care providers and very limited others with a need to know....and, that need to know needs to benefit us, the healthcare consumer. The healthcare community has an army of professionals, known as health information managers, whose primary job it is to ensure the safety of your health information. You can read more about this profession at the American Health Information Management Association’s website, www.ahima.org
- Technology housing your information has evolved...electronic medical records were first addressed in HIPAA proposed legislation in 1996. At that time, about 5 percent of healthcare providers used some form of electronic health records. Today, that percentage is more like 50 percent. In the past decade, the security protections for electronic medical records – both technologically and procedurally – have improved greatly to help us feel more confident that our information is safe.
- Using your information to benefit you: It’s a balancing act....There is an upside-downside to electronic medical records. The upside is that information on you is more complete, accurate, and maybe most importantly, can be shared easily and quickly with other healthcare providers. This characteristic of the EHR can save a life. For anyone who does not feel comfortable with an EHR, you can seek out a provider who does not use EHRs and, you can specifically request other providers not to release your records to anyone without your consent. You can download a form specifically for this purpose and read more about concerns in privacy at www.patientprivacyrights.org
I address the importance of a complete, accurate, computerized medical record in Step 2of my book 7 Steps to Your Best Possible Healthcare. You can read more about the book and getting your best possible healthcare at www.7stepshealth.com .
Ruthann Russo, PhD, JD, MPH, RHIT, is a healthcare expert with more than 20 years of experience working in and advising healthcare organizations.
