Sunday, April 09, 2006

Patient empowerment at Cleveland Clinic

Patient empowerment at Cleveland Clinic : “Patient empowerment is the fundamental issue,” says Holly Miller, M.D., managing director of e-Cleveland Clinic. “We wanted to show patients that we value their time and respect their autonomy by giving them quick and easy access to information and appointment-making at their convenience – not ours.” By using MyChart, one of the first services offered through e-Cleveland Clinic, communication between Clinic patients and their health care team is enhanced, not replaced. Through this service, Clinic patients can access parts of their own medical record via the Internet, any time of day or night.In a fast, easy and totally secure manner, MyChart can display diagnoses, test results and other information released by the patient’s physician."
This is a peculiar notion of patient empowerment ! Why should information have to be "released" by the physician ? Doesn't the patient own this information any way ? What are we trying to hide from them ? and why ?
Why not allow all patients to own their entire medical record ?

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