HealthFrame Discussion

How safe is sharing medical records over the internet (was Re: How can I share my medical records with my health providers?)

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 09:50:39 GMT

    Some people believe in the safety of storing their medical records on the internet. Others believe it is unsafe. There is ample evidence to support both points of view.

    At Records For Living, we try to leave as many choices like this as possible to consumers, and then to support their choices with the best possible software and technologies.

    With HealthFrame, you can maintain your records completely securely on your home computer, and never transmit any of them across the internet. You can choose do export limited subsets of your data, and transmit them to people (or services) you designate. Or, you can send your entire medical record, un-encrypted, anywhere you like.

    Over the coming years, HealthFrame will greatly expand the kinds of services you can access over the internet, and the security options you can choose from. But at any time, you can rest assured that Records for Living will respect your privacy, and do our best to give the consumer choice and control.

    Addressing the specific security issues of specific technologies (like CXP) - I think - is probably outside the scope of your intended question, but if you are interested, we can comment on that, or redirect you to sources where you can find more information.

          The Support Team.

Re: How can I share my medical records with my health providers?

Ted — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 08:09:58 GMT

In reading this part of the response, I am prompted to ask if any of my records are stored on the internet:

"- If your provider has access to the internet, he/she can access your clinical records via CCR-compliant intermediaries, such as MedCommons, via the CXP (Commons eXchange Protocol) protocol."

Ted

How can I share my medical records with my health providers?

support@RecordsForLiving.com — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 22:05:44 GMT

In thread http://community.recordsforliving.com/forums/thread/736.aspx, Ted asks:

2)       How do you distribute the reader of the files that your software creates?

a.       It appears to create a file of a proprietary nature that requires your reader. How does that help me make my medical records available to a health care provider, unless it is by paper?

b.      Your web site discusses IT standards for PHR’s How do I find out if my providers use that same standard?

2. HealthFrame Lite Edition (the 'reader') can be freely downloaded from our website http://www.recordsforliving.com/ProductsAndServices/HealthFrameEditions/HealthFrameLiteEdition.aspx

a. HealthFrame supports a number of different mechanisms that you can use to share your medical records with your health provider:

    - You can export HealthFrame to an industry standard format known as the ASTM Continuity of Care Record. This is an electronic, XML-based industry standard that is supported by a number of electronic health record vendors (the software used by health providers).
    - You can export the contents from your PHR onto an iPod and allow your provider to view your records.
    - You can print any number of reports available in HealthFrame and share those with your providers.
    - If your provider has access to the internet, he/she can access your clinical records via CCR-compliant intermediaries, such as MedCommons, via the CXP (Commons eXchange Protocol) protocol.

b. The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) maintains a listing of products that support CCR http://www.centerforhit.org/x2022.xml You can ask your providers if they use any of the compliant products.

Thanks,
Support Team