Yes, I always have. So far, so good, but I know things can happen.

Before they existed, and right after my DH died in the (Dallas) hospital, I got a letter saying an employee had stolen a large number of patient files … my DH’s was one. So they had a physical copy of everything about us. The letter was basically, ’this thing happened, sorry’. For all I know, someone stole his identity. I never heard anything else about it.

I’m not sure anything is safe, no matter what. It stinks. Sigh.

I cannot imagine how violated you felt, Jinx. I am so sorry that happened.

Zalco, thank you so much. ❤️ It really did feel that way

It was within weeks and was like a gut punch on top of everything else. And this is a very prestigious hospital, but thieves are everywhere.

I too am sorry this happened to you, Jinx, particularly after losing your husband. Just awful. {{{{{{{{Jinx}}}}}}}}}

Thank you so much, petal. ❤️

Jinx, I am very sorry to hear that.

But yes, it is very easy to make an appoitnment, email my primary care doctor, do telehealth visits, schedule COVID vaccines for DH, and view reports. I assume it is as vulnerable as any other secure electronic site. It also connects with CVS minute clinic.

Thank you, g. ❤️

I was just thinking about my GI doctor — it’s very hard to get anything done over the phone with them. They do everything through My Chart.

My Chart is super convenient but in addition to security concerns, it annoys me at times because I get test results automatically with no explanation from the doctor. This just happened to DH. Received a scary sounding result from a brain MRI thru the portal late day Thurs. — just the MRI report, no note from the dr. He called the dr on Fri to ask for more info but she was ”in surgery”…because of the holiday he had to wait until THIS MORNING to hear from the dr. and the scary sounding thing they found on MRI is not actually scary at all. But thanks for the 4 days of anxiety, doc.

I recently had an MRI for a suspicious shadow near my femur. I was able to get squeezed in for a next day (Saturday) MRI. My ortho who ordered the test was out of the country and I wasn't sure when he would be able to get back to me on the results. But an hour after the test, the results were there on my portal. All good per the radiologist who read it.

I was so glad to get the results right away.

Sueb20, sorry that you and your DH had 4 days of holding your breath. Sometimes when thereis an innocuous finding, it is comment on as such by the radiologist in the report. But, not always.

I like to get a copy of any diagnostic images. That can be interesting, as well as handy. Sometimes youcan look online for help interpretting, but beware, because you know that saying about having just a little information….

Over the year, I’ve noted incidental findingnof a couple of different diagnostic images. One I looked uo an foundna published paper (years ago) on the authors associating the finding with a certain physiological incident. I intended to write them and offer my scan finding and history as a fourth confirmatory bit for them. But I got busy and….

Another time, I spotted an irregularity on an Ultrasound and surmised it was a benign cyst. Searched that out and it seemed likely. Ran it by my doc when some time later I had occasion to see him. He confirmed that’s what it was. Not unusual. But it was fun for me looking into it.

I do use a patient portal with one doctor. I think most doctors today use some form of digital patient records, whether you can access it via portal or not. As a software engineer I am keenly aware of how complex security can be and how common it is for engineers and their employers to not be up to speed on security or invest in what is needed to make software secure. Medical record software is guided by regulations around security and privacy, but I don't personally know the details. And unfortunately how well that is implemented is going to be up to the company that makes the software. And even companies that work very hard to follow security best practices can get hacked.

I use the patient portal at Kaiser without concern. Not that they can't get hacked (my data has been part of a couple high profile hacks, including Yahoo and Blue Cross Blue Shield). But I don't really think me using the portal increases my risk. The records are stored digitally whether I opt to access them or not. And I'm way less concerned about what hackers will do with my cholesterol levels or the results of my colon cancer screening than I am about financial stuff.

I find My Cart very helpful. I can text my doc and get a quick response and see test results by the end of the day. For me it relieves stress after a mammogram or MRI, and I can talk with the doc the next day. It's also good for comparing bloodwork from one year to the next. You can look at a graph for each thing tested, eg. cholesterol, various vitamins, sodium, etc.

I'm glad you had good news today, Sue. The holidays always throw a monkey wrench into medical care. I injured my leg and have been waiting to get in today. I try to avoid ER.

I do agree with what you just said, Re Tired, that it is really helpful to have quick access to test results without waiting for a doctor to call. My doctor will post results often with some notes for me. We can discuss at an appointment, but it's helpful for me to have time to read through the results so I am thinking about questions to ask before we have the conversation.

In my mind, the biggest concern is access to personally identifying information (SSN, name, DOB, address, etc) and secondarily to health information. I can't recall whether I typically give SSN to doctors (seems like not??) but obviously they need all the rest of the info. And that info has to be stored somewhere, which is unlikely to just be a paper file anymore.