Patients, for their own protection, long have needed to secure copies of their medical records and correct inaccuracies they find — a safeguard that has grown even more vital as research builds about unacceptable biases that doctors and others may show in their recorded observations about those in their care. In two separate, published dives….
Continue ReadingMedical Records
Online portals let patients get their medical records. They’re full of errors, and patients can get them corrected.
As doctors and hospitals switch to electronic medical record systems and try to amp up the business efficiency of their enterprises by opening online consumer portals, more patients may access their caregivers’ files on them, including doctor notes that may be shocking in their inaccuracy. Heather Gantzer, a doctor practicing at Methodist Hospital in St…..
Continue ReadingPatients finally gaining new access to medical records and doctors’ notes
Millions of Americans may be finding that their doctors routinely refer to them with terms like SOB and BS. But patients will be better off with this knowledge, once they learn how to translate medical abbreviations. The Associated Press reported that hospitals and health care systems nationwide quietly are complying with deadlines, and, under a….
Continue ReadingBookmark deep digs into what’s next with Covid-19 and its impact on medicine
For those who may have more time on their hands due to the pandemic and who may be seeking deeper digs into Covid-19, excellent long-form coverage is abounding. Consider, for example, taking time for the New Yorker article by Siddhartha Mukherjee, a cancer doctor, biologist, and best-selling nonfiction author who delves into the question of….
Continue ReadingPatients get rule-making boost to access and use important medical records
The Trump Administration, to its credit, has put out finalized new rules that aim to give patients greater access to and use of their all-important medical records, now mostly captured and contained in electronic form. Federal officials had to battle a handful of wealthy, powerful corporations that own and install proprietary software and computing systems….
Continue ReadingA top U.S. health official can’t get his. Which is why we need records reforms.
Federal regulators may be on the brink of not only protecting but also advancing patients access and use of a key component of their care: their electronic health records. Or will bureaucrats fold up in the face of a muscle campaign by corporate interests and hospitals? To its credit, the giant Health and Human Services….
Continue ReadingDeceptive software pushed MDs to prescribe opioids at overdose crisis’ peak
Federal prosecutors have provided 145 million reasons why enthusiasts may want to curb their exuberance about how high tech will work miracles in the U.S. health care system. That’s because investigators have ferreted out “abhorrent” conduct by Practice Fusion, a San Francisco firm that specialized in electronic health care records software, according to the U.S…..
Continue ReadingWhen those medical bill slips and errors add up, honestly, isn’t it just fraud?
If department stores, car mechanics, or restaurants billed their customers in the same way that hospitals and doctors do, prosecutors might have their hands full. That’s because what patients now accept in sheepish fashion as simple “errors” or misstatements or curious charges on their medical bills more correctly ought to be called something else: fraud…..
Continue ReadingAfter thousands of lawsuits, FDA bans mesh used in pelvic prolapse procedures
After years of patient complaints about injuries and tens of thousands of lawsuits, the federal Food and Drug Administration yanked from the market a surgical mesh widely used to repair pelvic conditions in women. The agency has been slow to act on transvaginal mesh, which has been in use since the 1970s, with surgeons increasing….
Continue ReadingElectronic records mess threatens patient safety, investigation finds
Tempting though it may be to dismiss doctors’ howls about electronic health records—maybe they’re Luddites or they’re just another group of high-paid workers beefing about their job tools—the persistent and significant nightmare of the complicated computer systems has been this: Do they harm patient care? The answer now may be: Yes, billions of taxpayer and….
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