September 18, 2000

Patient records appearing on the Web

By Rita Rubin, USA TODAY

Entrepreneurs have sought to capitalize on the growth of Internet use in emergency departments and in patients' homes. They have launched Web sites that allow patients to place their medical records online, where only those who have a password can access them.

Then, the thinking goes, if patients suddenly take ill or are injured, and they're far from home or the doctor's office is closed, emergency workers can access their records quickly.

Since March 1999, 150,000 people have plugged their medical records into PersonalMD.com, says Susan Cossette, director of corporate communications. Those who signed up before last month are receiving the service free; new customers must pay an annual fee of $39.95, which covers them and up to four family members.

With no advertising, Myonline medicalrecords.com has signed up nearly 600 subscribers, says founder Stratis Bahaveolos. The service is free. Bahaveolos says he hopes to sell it to corporations as an employee benefit.

Besides typing in such information as drug allergies, physicians' names and phone numbers, and chronic medical conditions, subscribers can add paper documents, such as electrocardiogram tracings, via fax. Patients receive cards containing their passwords, should they be unable to tell doctors themselves.

Some Web-savvy emergency medicine physicians expressed skepticism about such sites. They question whether patients can be trusted to enter accurate information, and they wonder about the practicality of such a service.

"People just don't plan ahead in that kind of way," says Craig Feied of Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.

"I see thousands of patients a year," says Jonathan Handler of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. "I have never once in my entire life - and I've been waiting, because we're geared up and ready for this - I've never once had anyone tell me that their information was online. Ever."

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Press Contact for Media:
For PersonalMD.com
Susan Cossette
Director of Corporate Communications
Susan@PersonalMD.com
925-460-9080, Ext. 17