Why You Should Keep Your Own Health Records:
- preserve the date
- hospital might get hacked or lose data due to natural disaster etc.
Where to Store Your Records:
- backup hard copy, physical records with yourself and a trusted person
Ken has a background in science (physics).
Book recommendation: Lies My Doctor Told Me: Medical Myths That Can Harm Your Health by Ken Berry
What data to track?
- blood panels
- just observe your body and make notes
- weight
How to track digitally?
- There are many options. OneNote might be a good option and is easily printable, collaborative.
- Focus on storing health data, not learning new apps.
- Make sure to store sensitive data securely somewhere.
- The system doesn’t matter, just make sure you have a system that works for you and you know where to store your data.
“If you are not fit, you’re not healthy.”
Make it easy and fun.
- Start with weight, it can be easily synced if you have a smart scale. (Maybe not waist because it’s not easy to measure accurately and needs to be written down manually.)
- Have a system that is easy to maintain. Ideally, it automatically syncs.
Privacy:
- No need to guard basic data, e.g. blood pressure of an aging parent.
- If you are caring for a person, share data with other people who also care for that person.
Tech solutions
- As tech evolves, we get more and more useful gadgets.
- New technology gets to vets a decade before doctors.
Questions & Comments
- Consider using a walk-in clinic; they sometimes have cheap options.
- What is a good way to start with already existing data? How do you get your data?
- Some hospitals have a promise on their website stating that one can request a copy.
- Doctors use systems like Epic. Is there a possibility to get that data?
- HIPPA makes it hard for patients to get their data, easy for anyone in the system to get your data.
- Epic is the largest medical records system in the US. (Second to Cerner.)
- Obamacare incentiveses that records are transferred to a digital format.
- There is a portal for patients to access and download their data, but it might be difficult.
- Doctors have little time. It’s highly encouraged to streamline data on a problem by problem basis (i.e. make it relevant to the doctor you are seeing).