After a recent cyberattack affected patient record systems at Ascension, one of the largest U.S. health systems, here are a few ways you can safeguard your health records.
Imagine you rush to the emergency room, but after five hours, they tell you to find another hospital.
Or you check in at your specialist’s office for a chronic condition, only to find they have no access to your entire medical history. Both of these scenarios happened.
The cyberattack on one of the largest health systems in the U.S., Ascension, was bad — really bad. Before you say, "Another data breach? So what, Kim?" know that having your records sold on the dark web is the least of your worries.
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Code red
The hack on Ascension sent its 140 hospitals and 40 senior centers into full-blown chaos. It took down patient record systems and medication prescribing systems, forcing doctors and nurses to rely on paper charts and handwritten records to keep things running.
One patient, Zackery Lopez, checked himself in at an Ascension-run hospital in Southfield, Michigan. He was suffering from internal bleeding and thought his cancer had returned. Zackery waited a grueling seven hours before a nurse could help him. As he waited, he saw patients checking themselves out.
Keep your health records safe
When hospital systems get hacked, it’s a matter of life and death. And it’s happening more and more often. Keeping physical records sounds old school, but if digital systems go down, it could save your life.
I also recommend compiling your full medical records and having a printed copy on hand. If you have an iPhone, you can sync them to your Health app:
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Add your health records
View your health records
I have medical reporting dating back to 2012 in my account, and it's a 66-page PDF! Yes, you really do want that much detail.
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Use an Android?
Unfortunately, Google doesn’t have a built-in health app equivalent. That doesn’t mean you’re out of luck.
Lots of folks like the free, privacy-friendly CommonHealth app. It’s from the nonprofit organization The Commons Project Foundation and connects with 15,000 health providers.
Most of the options in the Play Store include some kind of data collection, but not this one. Data is stored on your device online, and the developers say it won’t be sold, shared or used for marketing.
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