I wanted to have an office visit with a new doctor. I call them up and they take some info over the phone. They then send me an email w/ a link to a third party website service for me to check over forms and confirm information. All of these forms are in the cloud somewhere, some electronic form service they use.

WTF? I didn't give them permission to do this. Why can't I just confirm the info and sign them when I go into the office? Like we used to do? Why the fuck does it need to go to some third party cloud service? Fuck, this pissed me off.

Is this normal? Is this what you guys are all doing? Or is this weird. If this is the new norm and all you guys are doing it, I won't make a stick about it when I go into the office.

But WTF - why can't I just review and sign in the office? Why can't they just email me the forms? Why do they need to upload all this info to a third party business?

Wondering ... Is this HIPAA compliant?

I get the same thing every year as doctors and hospitals have to update their records annually. The third party websites even request uploaded photos of driver’s license and insurance information. I just wait and do all that when I’m sitting in front of them during my first visit each year. They may still upload everything to the cloud, for all I know.

My wife has been complaining about this as well. Now yet ANOTHER party has the ability to compromise my data? Are their clerks background checked? What data security do they use? Who do I sue when they screw me? It seems every technical advance is used for the benefit of the retailer, not the consumer.

There are precious few offices nowadays who don't have electronic medical records. Even if you wait and fill out the forms in the office, the forms will get scanned and uploaded to your EMR. The days of filing cabinets full of medical records are long gone and there ain't no way around it...unless you can find one of those aforementioned offices.

I, personally, don't like it any more than anyone else. I, professionally, love it. Everything I need to know is available instantaneously with the click of a mouse. The downside is that everything anyone (with access) wants to know is available instantaneously with the click of a mouse.

The ease with which your information is available is pretty scary. I've been the victim of unauthorized people accessing my record. The penalties are nowhere near harsh enough.

But just to be clear, I get it when a big health org (some medical group with hospital and such) upload and keep electronic records on their own IT system (which has been hacked) is one thing. But to farm out the service to some no-name company on the web (not even sure about physical location) is bad for a medical office to do. What type of vetting do they actually do? Why is this even allowed?

I get that small medical offices can't afford their own IT department etc. But it also doesn't mean that they trade their conveniences and expenses for our data.

If I ever wanted to get into ID theft, I'd start one of these "form service companies" and mine names, addresses, SSN, health info, insurance info, etc easily and for free. Hell, get paid to be do so. Or let some bad actors "hack" my system.

"Rage against the machine!"
-Ned Ludd

Oh, I thought this was going to be about when you see a cloud shaped like a bunny or whatever.

I saw a bunny cloud once. I saw one shaped like Abraham Lincoln in profile.

But not at the same time as the bunny.

It is the way of the industry, and it is only going to become more so.

My main doc is a standalone practice, cash pay only (no insurance). She uses one of those 3rd party services for me to fill out info. I have no idea what she uses for the digital records she makes of my visits, but she does have everything on the computer. It would be expected that at the least she has off-site backup of everything.

All of those records are siloed from other medical providers.

Every other provider (dermatologist, audiologist, hospital ER, etc) are part of a big conglomerate. Pre-registration for an appointment is online, and the medical records are thoroughly interlinked. I doubt they have their own software development or own the servers where the data is stored.

These days, all of our names, ssn's, and other information has already been leaked from somewhere. I don't worry that someone will hack my medical records to get my birthday and ssn. They may want to get credit card info, or perhaps try some kind of phishing by pretending to be the hospital.

The bigger concern I have is the misuse of medical information by insurance companies, employers, or the government. That's not a hacking problem, it's a big data problem.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Oh, I thought this was going to be about when you see a cloud shaped like a bunny or whatever.

Ha. That's exactly what I thought at first.

Unfortunately, it seems like this cloud crap for data storage is the new norm. "Progress" and stuff.

Tell them you don't have access and ask if they will have paper forms for you if you visit.

Note the 'if'. If they don't pick up on that, make it explicit.

There are lots of docs out there.

I thought it was about things you notice when you smoke weed. or maybe Joni Mitchell.

About once a year I get free credit monitoring because someone got my medical records. Paper records get compromised as well. Someone broke into a storage faciity where medical records were stored.It cost the medical group about 35 grand to send out letters and provide free credit monitoring to the patients.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:
Tell them you don't have access and ask if they will have paper forms for you if you visit.

Note the 'if'. If they don't pick up on that, make it explicit.

There are lots of docs out there.

OP's concern is not satisfied. It still end up in the Cloud, after the paper forms are scanned.

They don't give a shit about anyone's "if".

quote:

... WTF? I didn't give them permission to do this. Why can't I just confirm the info and sign them when I go into the office? Like we used to do? Why the fuck does it need to go to some third party cloud service? Fuck, this pissed me off. ...

Had a fluffy white tail and everything.

The bunny, not Lincoln