Leroy,
An important thing to consider when emailing your clinical record information is how you can best preserve your privacy. There are two aspects you should consider: your email service and the actual format/file.
Most email users do not realize that email is not by default a safe protocol. In most cases, when you communicate using email, your messages can be
intercepted, read, changed, and counterfeited by others. There are certain steps that can be taken to make sure that email is 'secure'. If email is your preferred mechanism for sharing your clinical records, you may wish to consider email products and solutions that support "
secure email".
An additional step you can take is to encrypt your files prior to emailing. With HealthFrame you can accomplish this in a number of ways:
- HealthFrame backup files are encrypted and password protected (if you password protect access to your personal health record). To generate a backup file, simply use the File / Save PHR Backup... menu item and attach the encrypted file to your email message. The person you send it to, can open the file with HealthFrame.
- You can generate PDF reports (use a PDF print driver), and encrypt them prior to attaching them to your email. If you use Microsoft Windows XP Professional, for instance, support for file encryption is part of the operating system support.
- If you wish to email XML-based electronic clinical records (using the ASTM Continuity of Care Record standard, for instance), encrypt using the same tools you'd use in #2 above, prior to attaching to email. In order to generate XML extract, please use the File / Export PHR ... menu item. XML-based extracts can then be viewed using a number of compliant tools - including of course HealhFrame and HealthFrame Viewer.
Please let us know if we can be of further help,
Support Team