HealthFrame Discussion

Re: Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:44:12 GMT

A picture is worth a thousand words ;-) Thank you for sending it.

Unfortunately, the explanation for what is happening is somewhat technical and I will try to explain as best as I can. HealthFrame uses a subset of Internet Explorer as part of its implementation. This use supports features such as hyperlinking. Even though the application runs entirely on your computer, you are using a familiar look and feel of a browser.

Inside a browser, whenever you're done filling out a form and you click on the "OK" button, the browser posts the information you entered to its web server. In the case of a web browser, the posted form information is sent from the client machine to the server machine over the internet.

HealthFrame uses the same 'post' support except that the information is posted locally. Internet Explorer does not check the URL to verify that this is a local address and you get a message that can be confusing and actually misleading.

Since it is important for Records For Living to ensure our customers that their data is protected and to make sure they are not mislead by these types of messages, we will work in future releases to try and correct this limitation of the Internet Explorer application component.

Thank you,

Support Team

Re: Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

Tiffany — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:21:59 GMT

I am running HealthFrame through Parallels on a mac. The error message is coming from Internet Explorer. With the tools available to me, I was unable to get more information about what is being sent.

I will attach the screen shot with this message.

Though I appreciate your confirmation that nothing is being sent in response to a save operation, the software is telling me otherwise.

Thanks for the quick responses on this.

Re: Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:29:07 GMT

We cannot explain this without more information. What you describe should not be happening, and is most likely a bug in whatever reporting software you are using.

Do you know what software is reporting that information is being sent over the internet?

Can you please provide us with a screenshot of the error message?

At any rate - I'm virtually certain - in the circumstance you've described - no information is being sent over the Internet.

You can use a utility like Wireshark (only if you are a sophisticated network user) to spy on exactly what is being sent over the Internet. HealthFrame v2 (what you are using) does not send any data over the Internet in response to a save operation.

Re: Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

Tiffany — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 09:21:01 GMT

I understand that the program will access the internet for those few reasons. What worries me is that it is accessing the internet when I try to save personal data.

I disabled the "check for updates" feature. I started the program again, went to "personal information", chose a gender for the individual (so name and gender are the only pieces of information in the record), and hit the "save" button. That brings up a warning that something is going to be sent over the internet. Saving doesn't seem to fall into any of the examples you list.

Can you explain this?

Re: Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:40:50 GMT

Dear Tiffany,

Thank you for your interest in HealthFrame and for your inquiry regarding internet access.

Records for Living appreciates and respects our customers' desire for privacy. When you use HealthFrame, you are entirely in control of how you choose to share your medical information.

HealthFrame is not attempting to transfer your medical record information over the internet. There are instances, however, when HealthFrame does access the internet. Here are some examples:

If you click on a link to an external web site

HealthFrame links to many reputable reference websites such as MedlinePlus. If you click on one of these external links, HealthFrame will access the internet.

Some of the reports and OpenHealth Service (OHS) plug-ins: HealthFrame supports an extensible set of services and reports, some of which are supported by external websites. Here are a couple of examples of OHS plug-ins that access external web sites:

Find Clinical Trials for your Medical Conditions: accesses the ClinicalTrials.gov database
HHS - My Family Health Portrait - interacts with the U. S. Surgeon General's web site

If you use the Send PHR... or Receive PHR... functions (File menu), HealthFrame will attempt to connect to whatever server you are trying to connect

This is the list of user-initiated actions that would lead HealthFrame to access the internet. One final case that may not be obvious to users, is that HealthFrame is configured to automatically check for the availability of software updates. Records For Living makes minor releases freely available to our customers and we try to make it easier for you to update to a newer version, by having the software periodically check. If this default setting is a concern to you, please disable it by de-selecting the option - as shown in the image below.

Thank you once again for your interest in HealthFrame and please let us know if we can be of additional assistance.

Support Team

Why is HealthFrame trying to access the internet?

Tiffany — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 08:34:16 GMT

Hello-

I just downloaded the demo version of HealthFrame. I entered a minimal amount of information, but when I tried to save it, my machine notified me that the program was going to send something over the internet.

The help files say that all of my personal information is stored locally on my machine and I am particularly interested in *your* software because the information IS NOT supposed to be stored online nor transferred via the net. Why is Health Frame trying to access the internet after I enter information?

If you could reply quickly, I would appreciate it since I have only 15 days to evaluate the software and I refuse to enter data if there is any communication between HealthFrame and the internet.

Thanks,
Tiffany