Maintaining your own health records...

[SkyHog]

Anyone know of a solution (preferably web based), that allows one to maintain their own health records - copies of labs, copies of x-rays, CT scans, etc? I realized today that every time I move to a new area, I basically start all over again, and it would be very helpful to have my own records that I can bring with me to a new doctor rather than starting all over every time.

Any ideas?

 

[AggieMike88]

Microsoft Healthvault

https://www.healthvault.com/us/en?mobile=False

I don't use it myself, but based on what I have heard about it, it might fit what you are seeking.

 

[RJM62]

All that stuff is digital now, anyway. I would just encrypt it into a compressed archive and upload it to one of my servers if I had a complex medical history.

As it stands now, however, I could write all the information in my medical record that's actually important on one of my fingernails, with room to spare.

-Rich

 

[bbchien]

Nick, I just scan everything and make a quarterly PDF of everything.
Works GREAT.

 

[mnewb1]

Many practices, ramping up with electronic medical records and registries, have portals that are available to patients to access their records from anywhere with an internet connection, anytime.

 

[AuntPeggy]

Anyone know of a solution (preferably web based), that allows one to maintain their own health records - copies of labs, copies of x-rays, CT scans, etc? I realized today that every time I move to a new area, I basically start all over again, and it would be very helpful to have my own records that I can bring with me to a new doctor rather than starting all over every time.

Any ideas?

You should ask the radiology department for a CD with your x-rays and CT scans. You have a right to these records. It should be at no cost to you. It should not take very long on the day of the visit. It will take longer to retrieve historical images.

These are usually in a proprietary format and very many or very large files. There is a reader on the CD, so you can look at the images as well as the comments from the radiologist. However, there is no instruction manual so you must just click-and-guess. There is an effort being made to get all the formats identical, but that will always be thwarted because each radiology provider offers their best technology in an effort to improve sales and that means that they have proprietary processes until the rest of the industry catches up.

 

[weilke]

These are usually in a proprietary format and very many or very large files. There is a reader on the CD, so you can look at the images as well as the comments from the radiologist. However, there is no instruction manual so you must just click-and-guess. There is an effort being made to get all the formats identical, but that will always be thwarted because each radiology provider offers their best technology in an effort to improve sales and that means that they have proprietary processes until the rest of the industry catches up.

95%+ of the images put on CDs are in standard DICOM format, very few left that write in anything proprietary. All the relevant information on an image (encoding, compression, patient demographics) is embedded into the 'envelope' that each of them comes with. On one hand, that creates large and unwieldy files, on the other hand it allows any fully compliant DICOM reader to display the images regardless of the source facility. Anyone with a bit of knowledge about file systems, can take all the images they receive from different imaging providers and store them in an easily accessible structure. There are a number of public-domain DICOM display softwares out there, setting up your own picture archive is entirely doable.

 

[Gary F]

The fun starts when patients try to interpret the images.

 

[AuntPeggy]

95%+ of the images put on CDs are in standard DICOM format, very few left that write in anything proprietary. All the relevant information on an image (encoding, compression, patient demographics) is embedded into the 'envelope' that each of them comes with. On one hand, that creates large and unwieldy files, on the other hand it allows any fully compliant DICOM reader to display the images regardless of the source facility. Anyone with a bit of knowledge about file systems, can take all the images they receive from different imaging providers and store them in an easily accessible structure. There are a number of public-domain DICOM display softwares out there, setting up your own picture archive is entirely doable.

Not exactly. I am familiar with DICOM. I have spent many months ensuring that one DICOM reader correctly renders the images from other vendors accurately. It isn't easy. It isn't automatic. It is approximate if your software is not very carefully tested in a focused way with each modality. And, Nick isn't a radiologist, so what difference does it make? So, you are right.

But, as mentioned, each CD will have a DICOM reader that works well with the images on that CD.

 

[CJones]

The fun starts when patients try to interpret the images.

Not much different from people performing self-diagnosis based on the plethora of pharm commercials on TV these days.

 

[tmyers]

They will come out with a home version of Epic one of these days. I think Mr Winters acquired a few copies on his last pass through WI

 

[SkyHog]

HealthVault it is - looks like a very neat offering...its free, and it interacts with my lab provider so I can automatically get the copies.

Now, I just need to get my doctors in North Carolina to stop being putzes and agree that HIPAA doesn't keep them from providing my own documents to me via mail. "No, I won't fly back to North Carolina to show you my ID."

 

[oldShar]

Nick, I just scan everything and make a quarterly PDF of everything.
Works GREAT.

This is what I've been doing, along with an explanatory Spreadsheet.

But, the VA and Pres Medical also have online systems to keep your records --- and it looks like Medicare also has online records

So, things are coming along, even if only slowly

You should ask the radiology department for a CD with your x-rays and CT scans. You have a right to these records. It should be at no cost to you. It should not take very long on the day of the visit. It will take longer to retrieve historical images.

These are usually in a proprietary format and very many or very large files. There is a reader on the CD, so you can look at the images as well as the comments from the radiologist. However, there is no instruction manual so you must just click-and-guess. There is an effort being made to get all the formats identical, but that will always be thwarted because each radiology provider offers their best technology in an effort to improve sales and that means that they have proprietary processes until the rest of the industry catches up. .

I've gotten these as well, then copied them to my computer, so I don't have to worry about loosing the disks.

 

[weilke]

Not exactly. I am familiar with DICOM. I have spent many months ensuring that one DICOM reader correctly renders the images from other vendors accurately. It isn't easy. It isn't automatic. It is approximate if your software is not very carefully tested in a focused way with each modality.

We rarely have a problem importing studies, save some oddball nucs equipment or images of someones third party workstation.

But, as mentioned, each CD will have a DICOM reader that works well with the images on that CD.

He was looking for a way to have a central repository of his health records, not a stack of different CDs with different proprietary readers.

 

[tlglenn]

Way back when I dealt with this stuff I would attend RSNA each year in Chicago and I'd arrange informal testing with other vendors sending sample DICOM images back and forth to make sure nothing on either end broke. It was rare to encounter a problem.

 

[denverpilot]

Anyone know of a solution (preferably web based), that allows one to maintain their own health records - copies of labs, copies of x-rays, CT scans, etc? I realized today that every time I move to a new area, I basically start all over again, and it would be very helpful to have my own records that I can bring with me to a new doctor rather than starting all over every time.

Any ideas?

Dude. I'm gonna show you this cool thing sometime. It's called "paper" and there's this awesome accessory called a "filing cabinet" that is the killer app for it.

And then you scan it. Haha.