One way to take charge of your health care is by maintaining a personal medical record at home. The accumulated information can be very useful to a doctor planning your care and treatment.
Also, receiving copies of medical records helps you ensure the accuracy of the information included.
Anne-Marie Eugley, a nurse and ombudsman for North Shore Medical Center in Salem, keeps a thick health folder in her file cabinet at home. She said people should keep track of important medical records much the same way they hold onto W-2s and bank statements.
The medical records are typically the property of the health-care provider, but patients are entitled to receive copies. Sometimes the provider charges a small fee to cover copying expenses.
If a patient plans to switch doctors or see a specialist, they should request a summary of his or her medical history. Eugley said the summary is more useful than a 6-inch stack of papers in medical jargon.
Eugley said it's also a good idea to get your original X-ray films sent to a new doctor, which are available by contacting the hospital or facility where the tests were taken.
While it's probably not necessary to get copies of your record every time you visit the doctor, you should get copies of operation reports, discharge summaries or significant procedures from any hospital visit.
The American Health Information Management Association also suggests you include the following information:
— Susan Flynn
© Copyright 1997 Essex County Newspapers