Who owns my health information?

[indytechguy]

Here is something that has been bothering me. Maybe someone more versed in HIPPA etc could chime in. Why is it when I get a test or procedure done, the doctor’s office that ordered the test, acts like the are the only ones with exclusive rights to the information in the results of that test. Meaning, they won’t give you the results of the test until the doctor has reviewed it, and even then, they don’t give you any results, the doctor just says “Oh there is an issue” or “Your tests came back negative”.

I’m the one (via my insurance and my own pocket) paying for the test. And as we all know, some of the tests are expensive. Yes, I want my doctor’s intrepretation of my tests but I believe that information , in its raw format, belongs to me, and I should have a copy of it for my own recorRAB.

Example. When getting a CT Scan, my understanding is the techs can see instantly on their screens your “results” and either they write the report themselves or send to another tech and they write the report that gets sent to your doctor. But your doctor office (at least the one I’m dealing with), makes you wait 5 business days after a test to call in for the results and even then you have to wait until the doctor has reviewed them. Why? I own that information, that information is on me. Isn’t it?

Of course I even find it frustrating that they do NOT call you with your results if they are negative.

Here is my wish.

1. I want all copies of my test results when the doctors get them.
2. I want copies of my test results regardless if they are positive, negative, or inclusive.

I know that I won’t understand the terms or nurabers in the test results, but it would empower me as a patient to do my own research, and be ready to ask the right questions when I finally do get back in to see the doctor on a follow up visit and he only has 5 minutes to spare with me.

Why do the doctors, hospitals , etc treat patients like they are not entitled to their own information?

 

[Titchou]

Since the doctor ordered the test, he/she is the one who controls who gets that information...via your signing of the release. It could be that other tests are being done and that all those tests together are needed to make a determination. And so that a nurse or receptionist doesn't misinform you, it's best if the doctor does that. At the time you meet with the doctor to go over the results, you then have a right to ask for a copy of it and they have to provide it. I always do. Also, if you want copies of your file for a second opinion or because you are moving, you would also get all that information at that time.


If you went to a facility on your own and asked for the test without a doctor's prescription, so to speak, for it, then the results would come to you and you would have to find someone to interpret them.

So you do "own" the recorRAB, it's just the chain of command, so to speak, that senRAB it to the doctor when he/she orders the test. They are under obligation to provide those results to the doctor who is under an obligation to provide them to you.

Of course, you could always get a lawyer to write them and ask for the results and you might get them but that's going to cost you and take longer than going to the doctor for the results.

I had an odd situation come up several years ago. I had a pap smear, like usual, but my insurance company refused to pay for it. When I inquired of them why, all they would tell me is that it was a "special" pap smear and that was not covered. They would not tell me what was special about it nor what it was for specifically. They said I had to talk to my doctor's office. My doctor said it wasn't a special one that I needed to talk to the lab who did the test.

LabCorp said it was a normal pap and not special. So back to the insurance company who once again stated the test was special, for something other than a normal pap but the doctor would have to tell me. Well, after 2 weeks of this merry-go-round with the 3 of them, what I learned was that it was a wet prep, which was new at the time, and the local lab office couldn't process it so it was sent to an out of state lab. So the insurance company thought they were testing me for something the local lab couldn't test for. The doctor's office and the lab had to get with the insurance company and convince them it was a "normal" pap...which is the wet prep they do everywhere now. But I spent 2 weeks thinking I'd been tested for something and no one would tell me what it was! Bottom line, I had to get the doctor's office to talk to the lab and the insurance company as they would not give me the information that it was wet prep (new to them) and that nothing outside the norm was going on. Of course, it's to cover their rear.

Hope this helps and makes sense!