Majority of doctors opposed to full access to your own electronic records

Doctors oppose transparency, patient access to records--

Majority of doctors opposed to full access to your own electronic records | Ars Technica: "Technology is making transparency easier than ever and with the advent of electronic medical records, you might think doctors and other caregivers would embrace transparency for patients. After all, in the US and most modern counties, you have the right to review your own health records. Yet a recent survey by Harris Interactive reported first at Computerworld reveals that doctors aren't big fans of full transparency. A survey of 3,700 doctors in eight countries revealed that only 31 percent believe that patients should have full access to their own medical records via electronic means. That's less than one in 3. The majority of those surveyed, some 65 percent, supported "limited access," while the remaining 4 percent believe there should be no access granted to patients. So, despite the fact that we have rights to review and amend our records, doctors don’t want it to be easy for us to do so via electronic means. I find these numbers incredibly disappointing, although not surprising. While there might be many motivations for wanting to deny patients full access to their medical records, I know firsthand one such motivation: these documents can be terribly inaccurate. Mistakes can run from the serious to the banal. Ars’ own Casey Johnston told me her medical records reported the wrong birthdate for her. Not a huge deal, but also, sort of a silly mistake to make. I experienced something a little more serious. A few years ago I decided it was time to get some life insurance for both my wife and myself. Because we were seeking a significant policy, we were put through a fairly intense wringer, including a battery of medical tests conducted in our home and an extensive review of our medical records, in addition to multiple interviews. Through this process, I came to realize that my own medical records were littered with inaccuracies. . . . " (read more at the link above)


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