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Guest Post: Cindy Throop from http://Open-Health.us, a participatory forum dedicated to effectively including patients in the discussion, planning, and evaluation of health care reform.


A lot of money is about to be invested in health care, particularly into health information technology (HIT). Does this mean that when your health care provider(s) implement electronic medical records, you will have quick and easy (and free) access to your health data?

Ummm, not necessarily.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but we need to make sure President Obama knows that we – as patients, future patients, caregivers, citizens, and taxpayers – really care about having access to our health information. On Wednesday, July 1, 2009, Obama will be holding an online town hall meeting on health care reform to answer some common questions. People can submit questions via Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (twitter hashtag: #WHHCQ)

President Obama will answer common questions. If enough of us ask, maybe we will get a verbal commitment from Obama to support our health data rights.

Here are a couple of twitter examples:

Obama, will #hcreform support my right to access and use #myhealthdata ? #WHHCQ

Hi Prez Obama! Will #hcreform support humans’ access to their own health data, kinda like how they access their pet’s data? #WHHCQ

 

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