If You Give a Patient a Copy of Her Medical Records

If You Give a Patient a Copy of Her Medical Records(an ode to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff)

Dec 22, 2023

If you give a patient a cancer diagnosis, she may request a copy of her medical records. When she gets her medical records, she may pore over them, carefully deciphering their secrets, jotting down notes with a furrowed brow.

If you present a patient with her medical records, she may begin peppering her doctors with questions about her care. Each question, a step towards understanding, may fuel a desire for a broader perspective and she may seek a second opinion.

When she seeks that second opinion, she’ll need access to all the information, tools, and technology to become an adept architect of her treatment plan. As she becomes the CEO of her care while facing her mortality, her care team will find new enthusiasm in their collaboration, and a bond of trust may form.

With a trusting partnership, the patient and her care team become an indomitable force. Empowered by access to the necessary information, tools, and technology, she might then turn her attention to the rights of patients.

Learning about patients’ rights, such as the Right of Access, she may delve into health information technology policies, and start a quest for knowledge at HealthIT.gov, armed with curiosity and a list of questions.

Questions in hand, she may reach out to the Office of the National Coordinator with an email. A reply could open doors to resources unknown, plunging her into the depths of patient access, digital health, and healthcare innovation.

As a newfound expert, she may find herself invited to lend her voice to national committees and federal policy workgroups, advocating for patients and carepartners.

Once at the table, her voice, loud and clear, will firmly amplify the unmet needs of patients and carepartners, navigating the intricacies of actionable access to health information, championing digital health solutions, while confronting the challenges of financial toxicity and striving for equitable access to quality health care.

While addressing the vital topics in healthcare, our she finds herself with a new, profound understanding of the healthcare journey. Her insights and experiences, once locked within the confines of personal struggle, are now shared, lighting the way for others navigating similar paths.

She may become fed up with all the Patient Administrative Burdens that patients and families face, get sick of fax machines, scanners, copiers, filling out forms on clipboards, and leaving voicemails with doctors and staff who never call back and create software to make life easier.

She may call that software Unblock Health and turn it into a movement too.

Her advocacy, fueled by personal experience and the knowledge gained from her journey, reshapes the healthcare landscape. It leads to a future where patients, equipped with the right of access to their own medical records, are at the heart of their healthcare decisions. With this empowerment, they can manage their health and life with a diagnosis with confidence, turning patients into informed partners in their care.

If you give a patient a copy of her medical records, you give her more than just paper and data. You give her the key to unlock her own health narrative, the power to collaborate as an equal with healthcare providers, and the first step towards a journey not just of recovery and healing, but of unstoppable advocacy and an undeterred will to reduce suffering in healthcare for all.

If You Give a Patient a Copy of Her Medical Records(an ode to If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff)

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