Yes, it is time to embrace transparency (long overdue actually)! I’ve worked in the health care industry since 1982, mainly in the field of health information management, and mostly in acute care hospitals. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many patients who have a legitimate need to access their personal health information.
These patients aren’t necessarily the younger generation either. They come from all demographics. They are curious, and they have a vested interest in understanding more about their medical conditions — more than can be gleaned from the brief 10 minutes their general practitioner can give them. These people are more interested in understanding what their laboratory values mean (in layperson’s terms) than what some nurse or doctor said about them in their record.
I have a few health conditions (comes with being in my fifties) and I too, have had to face the hassle of getting access to my personal health information and laboratory work. The privacy rules and nonsense that I have had to endure are so antiquated that I can only imagine the level of frustration the average patient feels.
It’s time to change. Not all patients are the same. Some, like me, actually understand medical terminology and its myriad acronyms.
I could care less what some nurse or doctor writes about me. I just want the data, the test results, the evidence. I just want simple, easy access to my own personal health information, when I want it, where I want it and how I want it. It’s my information. It’s about me. So, what’s the hold up?