Should Patients Have Easy Access to Doctors’ Notes?

HIPAA mandates that people have unfettered access to their medical records. It’s a federal law. The argument shouldn’t be “should they have easy access?” It should be “Will the quality, accuracy, and honesty of medical records suffer or improve medical records that are visible with a simple log in?” Medical records should be about good communication between patients and doctors and between doctors. Unfortunately, most medical records exist to maximize reimbursement and are loaded with false information about a patient’s condition. And therein lies the dilemma. Do we give patients access to billing information? Or do we ask doctors to document twice? One aimed at the insurance companies and one aimed at consumers. Ha…I think we all know who’s going to win that fight, especially considering that patients don’t really pay the doctor bills and, therefore, aren’t the real consumers of healthcare. But that’s the nature of the beast and one of the reasons why consumers will ultimately abandon such an archaic, unfriendly system and choose more consumer friendly doctors once given the option.