Getting a slice of PHI

There is a communicative aspect to medicine that many tend to gloss over. The very heart of medicine is having one person sit down and talk about themselves to another. Changes in technology, societal attitudes and laws may alter what this process looks like over time, but in essence, doctors and patients will be doing the same thing they've always done.

Speaking of those changes in technology and societal attitudes... yeah, things aren't what they used to be like, right? It's no secret that there is a lot of personal health information floating around in the ether, and a pretty vocal contingent has been making it clear that they want access to all of their PHI. Beyond the fact that the open exchange of information about one's health with a person's health practitioners seems both ethically and legally just, it has some pretty practical benefits.

"We're seeing a generation that wants their information available to themselves all the time," says Nan Nuessle, MD, a pediatrician who writes on health IT and how patients and doctors communicate. [...]