Who Gets to See Your Records?

Your health records use to be considered a private matter between your doctor and you. With the continued growth of the third person health maintenance organizations (HMO's), doctors are required to share their records with each other and the HMO's.

A HMO provides a form of health coverage very different from the traditional insurance plans in the past. Each participant in an HMO, agrees to use a specified network of medical providers(doctors and hospitals). In return the HMO will usually offer broader coverage with a lower out of pocket expense to the user.

Who Has Access to Your Records?

Now, without your knowledge, your health records are sometimes being perused by employers, insurance companies, and drug manufacturing companies. Because medical records contain some sensitive information, such as past drug use or genetic predisposition to various diseases, it's important to keep this information truly "private."

In a typical teaching hospital, many people can have access to your medical reports. Anyone from the nursing staff to the x-ray technician can have a look at your records. As hospitals begin to computerize their medical records, there is a legitimate fear that more people will have even more access to your medical records.

Hospitals are not the only ones archiving medical records on patients. Data banks of such organizations as health maintenance organizations (HMO's) and drug companies are also gathering information and storing them in a computer format. By the linking of these computers together, some companies are beginning to sell and trade this valuable information across this vast network of computers.

Your medical records may also be used in a medical court case, if you are involved in a case in which your medical condition is an issue. The revelant parts of your record may be copied and introduced into a court case.

How is this Information Being Used?

In a recent 1993 Harris Poll, more than a quarter of the people who responded said that information about them had been improperly disclosed. Below is a list of some agencies who already have access to your medical information:

Health and Life Insurance companies require you to release your records before they will issue a policy to you.
Government agencies such as Medicare or Social Security Administration
The Medical Information Bureau has approximately 15 million files in a central database. Every time you file an insurance claim, a copy of this information goes to MIB.
Some institutions gather medical information on individuals and sell this information to drug companies.

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