Patients’ Mental Health Data Is At Risk, No Longer Private At All
When Julie (who requested that her last name not be used for reasons that will become obvious) went for a routine doctor visit in 2009, she found a nervous resident filling in for her regular physician, who was on maternity leave. He quickly told her that he’d read her psychiatric records, even though she wasn’t coming in for mental health issues, and that he wanted her to see a therapist. Immediately. In the aftermath of the visit, she discovered exactly what he’d been reading — “Uncovering past trauma. Sexual abuse by boy in preschool…. Patient is looking to change her job; problems with family continue. She and her mother are not talking….She has defaulted on student loans and has begun to deal with this including consulting an attorney.” In all, there were 200 pages of details from her therapy sessions, including issues that had taken years for her to disclose even to a professional.
Julie has bipolar disorder, which she and her doctors have managed successfully for two decades. She has a graduate degree, a good job and a child. But she didn’t have a true picture of what would happen to her mental health records as her provider, Partners HealthCare, transitioned to electronic medical records (EMRs). She had been seeing a primary care doctor, gynecologist and psychiatrist in the practice for many years. But, she says, “I thought I’d have to give permission for my regular doctors to see my psychiatry records.”
Nope. It turns out that all doctors in the practice could see all of her records when they logged in to the new system. Her primary care doctor regularly refilled her prescription for bipolar medication, something she’d expected during this visit, though it wasn’t her reason for coming. The substitute doctor refused at first, then agreed, but only after adding a note to her permanent medical record saying, “I counseled patient that she needs to see a psychologist immediately.” Julie was aghast. “The next time I have any kind of appointment that’s what they’re going see first.” Then she sighs, “I talked to him after. He was a resident. He wanted to do a good job, and he was trying to be diligent in reading all my records. It kind of backfired.”
Read the rest here:
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/08/21/how-mental-health-care-data-may-get-exposed/