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MyHealth FAQs
What is MyHealth Access Network?
MyHealth Access Network is a non-profit utility to help doctors deliver safer and more efficient healthcare through the secure sharing of medical records. MyHealth Access Network is a health information system connecting your doctor with other doctors who need to work together to provide you with the highest quality care. MyHealth Access Network provides the highest level of security available to protect your health information and tracks all access to your records to ensure that only authorized health professionals can see your information.
Why do healthcare providers need to share patient information?
If you have ever had to fill out the same form several times, or new forms with the same information, you’ve experienced the need for information sharing between doctors. Because patients may see several different physicians besides their primary care provider, different sets of medical records for the same patient can be found in different offices. This creates annoying paperwork for you, the patient, but also creates a very real risk that you could be prescribed a medication that you are allergic to, or are already taking, or that you will receive the same tests you have already undergone (and paid for). In the unfortunate event that you are unable to give a complete medical history to the doctor (for example, in the event of a car accident, or if you don’t recall all of your medicines or test results from memory), MyHealth Access Network is there to provide that information to the doctor, and ensure that you get the highest quality care at every encounter.
How can MyHealth Access Network improve my health care?
Participating in MyHealth Access Network helps ensure that you receive the highest quality care – it might even save your life by getting critical medical information to your doctor immediately.
- One prominent study indicates that in 85% of your family’s visits to the doctor, critical health information is missing that could have changed the treatment plan. MyHealth Access Network ensures that the relevant information is available for every doctor visit.
- More than 6,000 people in the Tulsa region have an avoidable bad reaction to prescription medications every year. Nearly 500 of these medication reactions require hospitalization, and some even result in death, according to a recent study. The secure electronic communications among doctors and between doctors and pharmacies provided by MyHealth Access Network will help prevent these errors.
- MyHealth eliminates the delays created when your doctor needs more information from other providers involved in your care and would otherwise have to wait on the mail, a fax or a returned phone call.
- MyHealth enables your doctors to communicate directly and securely with one another to ensure your care is coordinated appropriately.
- MyHealth helps you to avoid additional costs and health risks created by duplicated medical tests (such as increased radiation), or complications caused by missing information (like medication reactions or missed preventive care).
What health information is stored in MyHealth Access Network?
Only high priority health information will be included in MyHealth Access Network. Medical professionals have determined the following information is needed to effectively coordinate your health care:
- Names of the doctors and other health professionals who provide your care
- Diagnoses
- Current medications prescribed to you
- Lab and x-ray results
- Past procedures
- Known allergies
- Immunization records
- Hospital discharge records
- Basic personal information (your name, address, family phone contacts, etc.)
Who will have access to health information?
Only the health care professionals who are involved in your care are authorized to see your records. These healthcare providers include doctors, nurses, hospital clinicians, diagnostic technicians and pharmacists—the same individuals who maintain your health records in separate systems today.
Access to your data is guarded closely. MyHealth Access Network will rely on the same authorization procedures your doctor’s office uses today to determine which health providers are eligible to have access to your medical records. Access to clinical data elements is restricted to appropriate users such as your doctor and other doctors that are involved in your care, and the system keeps track of every person who views medical records so that your privacy will be protected through regular auditing of usage logs.
Can I restrict the sharing of my health information?
Any patient may decide to prevent access to their medical records via MyHealth Access Network by signing and submitting an “opt out” form available from any participating health professional. Note that providers will continue to use and maintain information in their own systems—but opting out will remove the ability for that information to be shared with other providers. When patients decide to “opt out” of MyHealth they must sign a form acknowledging that they understand that they will no longer have the benefit of records being available if they are in an accident or emergency, and that they are at great risk for medication prescribing conflicts and other medical errors.
What are my rights?
As a patient, you have the right to share or not to share your health information with the other doctors through MyHealth Access Network. In addition, you have the right to change your decision at any time.
How do I join MyHealth Access Network?
If your healthcare provider participates in MyHealth Access Network, no additional effort is required from you in order to participate. Should you desire not to participate, you can simply review the opt-out form and deliver it to us according to the instructions. Note that if your healthcare provider does not participate in MyHealth Access Network, you will not be getting any of the benefits described here, so please let us know if you would like us to invite your doctor to join MyHealth.
How can I see my health information?
Your physician or health system can provide a printed copy of the information stored in MyHealth Access Network. Additional options are under development, which will eventually give you access to your own data and even enable you to interact with your physician’s practice online.
Who operates MyHealth Access Network?
MyHealth Access Network is a non-profit organization that was created in 2009 by a coalition of local doctors and health care organizations. MyHealth’s goal is to improve the quality of health care in our community by sharing the right health information on the right patient at the right time with the right doctor in a highly secure way.
- In emergencies: MyHealth Access Network will give authorized emergency room doctors access to your medical history so they can make better decisions about your treatment.
- If you are pregnant: Doctors and nurses at the hospital will be able to make safer decisions about how to care for you and your baby with access to your MyHealth records.
- Avoid taking tests more than one time: If you just had lab tests at your doctor’s office or clinic and are admitted to a hospital, the hospital can get your test results from MyHealth Access Network.
Which organizations will share information in the MyHealth Network?
The MyHealth information system will enable authorized medical staff who provide care in multiple health settings to have access to your personal health information. Health organizations participating in the MyHealth Access Network include:
- Physicians and specialists
- Community Health Centers
- Tribal and Indian Health Service clinics
- EMSA and fire department response teams
- Hospitals
- Pharmacies
- Diagnostic and treatment centers
- Long Term Care Authority
- Tulsa Health Department
- Health insurance companies