MYMEDICALRECORDS.COM AND YOUR PERSONAL HEALTH DATA-PART 2

There is no doubt in my mind of the need for having our medical records organized in such a way that it both benefits the individual, but is also available in an emergency to prevent an accident by a caregiver, or even death. This is not a scare tactic like the cancer insurance of years ago, but rather a need made necessary by today’s lifestyles. Besides, instant answers, thus immediate decisions in medicine, have always been one of the biggest assets to hospitals, doctors and nurses.

But most of us are leery of giving out this most precious of our personal data, and you should be based on the current rate of medical identity theft. As of today there are over 227 million personal records exposed by breachers, over 15 percent of which is health data.

In yesterday’s post, I started a review of a company I feel has all the ingredients for benefits to the consumer in maintaining their health records, plus security protection standards that are above average. In May I had done a series on the inevitability of the latest trend of computerizing medical data (here, here and here), and endorsed the concept with reservations. My concern was finding an organization that would do this in a way that would exceed the security standards of today’s typical data collectors, many of which are guilty of losing or exposing so much sensitive data.

One such company that exceeds today’s security standards is MyMedicalRecords.com, and I want to continue in a review of qualifications that, as a privacy advocate, I find commendable. Some of the highlights from yesterday start with the fact that MMR started by first making sure of consumer data security before proceeding with their business plan. Access to private information is restricted, and a fact I failed to mention in my earlier post was MMR’s low cost of $9.95 monthly, or $99.95 if paid annually.

Getting back to the study conducted by MyMedicalRecords, in a comparison with Microsoft’s HealthVault, there are a number of “haves” and “have nots” between the two providers. MMR accepts secure fax documents; HV does not. MMR has voice mail capability for confidential messages; HV does not. MMR allows the sorting of records by date, family member, etc; HV does not. MMR gives users a search function; HV does not.

And finally, HV’s information sharing feature within the necessary third party structure is a somewhat complicated process of steps. MMR, on the other hand, has a fully integrated system within the company, no third party providers, and with a procedure designed to effortlessly allow the flow of information between user and health caregivers. MyMedicalRecords’ privacy policy is standard with typical protection required by law.

You have to make the decision if you are ready for this, but, if you are, by all means shop around, but from what I’ve seen, you must consider MyMedicalRecords.com.