I exchange thoughts with healthcare IT people on a daily basis over at Twitter.  So many of them seem perplexed at why we patients look at putting our medical records on the internet with trepidation.

Then along comes this video from Elizabeth Cohen at CNN.  In a matter of minutes, she was able to pull up one of her CNN colleague’s medical records, his kids’ records. She could see which doctors they’ve visited, and what took place during those meetings.

HIPAA is supposed to protect us from others getting our medical records right?

We don’t want potential employers finding out we have to take meds to control blood pressure or cholesterol every day — it’s not their business!

And consider this scenario:  you have no health insurance, or maybe you’ve just been laid off and you’ve lost your insurance.  Now you need new insurance.  Well guess what?  Insurers are looking behind the scenes to find reasons to turn you down. Regardless of how easy it is for others to get your medical records, the Medical Information Bureau makes it easy for insurers anyway.

Here’s my opinion on this issue:  I absolutely believe our health records need to be online, both to improve our health and to save money.  Both are reason enough to do make medical records accessible digitally.

I do not believe patients should be putting their own health information online through Google or Microsoft Health Vault or any of the free applications out there, and I very much object to those large organizations (like the Mayo Clinic) which are getting in bed with these two privacy-sucking behemoths.  Those “free” applications are not free.

I do believe patients can keep track of their own records, digitally, through any of the pay-for-service PHR (personal health record) programs.  You can read about the differences between the free and service fee PHR programs.

Now the government is looking at ways to move all our records online, and they are ready to throw $20 billion into the project.  I support that — with this caveat:  part of that money must make sure that our records can’t get into the wrong hands — including Elizabeth Cohen’s — because while Elizabeth is only showing us the potentials, not everyone has our best interests or good motives for doing so.

By the way, Elizabeth takes time in the video to tell us how to protect our records.  Take a look.  It will serve you well.

Trisha Torrey blogs at Every Patient’s Advocate and is the author of You Bet Your Life! The 10 Mistakes Every Patient Makes (How to Fix Them to Get the Healthcare You Deserve).

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