Your Personal Health Records: Your Right – Why you need MyLinks^® to manage them

By: Elizabeth Barker

Have you ever wondered about the story behind the creation of the products or services you use? For us, it’s simple:  We’re passionate about making a difference in healthcare. We create software to empower patients to securely gather, store and share their health information with whomever they choose – and from one account they control. You should always be at the forefront of your healthcare journey.

The information age and technology have automated healthcare records. Paper medical charts are a thing of the past and medical charts are kept in an, commonly referred to as an “EHR”, which provides your doctor with instant access to your chart. Yet with all of the technology available, information continues to be scattered and fragmented across different EHRs and portals.

Most doctors provide their patients with a website where they can access their medical records. Although patient portals may differ for every provider, most provide patients with the ability to view test results, request prescription refills, pay bills, etc.

But there are a few inherent problems with them.

Often, patients have multiple physicians. That’s where managing your health data gets tricky. Since each organization has its own portal, patients with multiple doctors also have multiple portals.

Let’s say your primary care provider refers you to a cardiologist and a pulmonary specialist. You have an incredible care team, but if they have different EHRs and portals, the information highway gets jammed – or worse, closed. This means a longer wait times for test results and other updates. For you, it also means maintaining multiple portals and coordinating new information with your care team.

And that dear reader, is a stomach cramp.

It might seem that if your physicians have an EHR, you might assume they have your most current information; but that isn’t always the case. And let me be clear, the EHR isn’t the problem – it does what it’s supposed to do.

The problem lies in the fact that unless your providers are in the same organization, they won’t be able to access each other’s EHRs. If you’re wondering why they all can’t have the same EHR, the answer is simple: they can’t. Since every medical practice is different, providers must choose the best EHR for their practice.

You might think, ‘But the doctors have their EHR and I have all these portals. It is a pain to keep track of them, but I’m handling it OK’. But are you really? What happens to all of the information in the portal, if your doctor changes the EHR? Bad news: the information you had stored in it will no longer be available. The only way you can get access to it is to request and pay for paper copies.

There’s a happy ending to this scenario:  MyLinks®

In 2012, long before technology had evolved, we were working to develop an application for patients to have access to, and manage their health data. Our goals: make it secure, easy to use and free.

Thankfully, technology did finally catch up. In 2018, we released the internet version MyLinks®, so we could reach the most people. After last year’s launch, we began finalizing the development on the Android version. We’re very excited to announce its pending release (Coming soon! Watch for updates!).

Today, many companies are jumping on the health app bandwagon. But MyLinks is your best option. There are many reasons, but a major influencer is simply that you get what you don’t pay for. It’s feature rich, yet completely FREE!

We refuse to charge you a single cent for your account.

We created it to help people, not to make money from them. And if you’re a skeptic, you needn’t worry about why we’re not charging for an application we’ve spent so much time creating.

 

We’ve been there. We’re patients too.

We know what it’s like to be faced with an illness we don’t understand, or to need records we don’t have. And once in a while, there’s someone who helps others just because it’s the right thing to do.

Be sure and visit our website to review the easy-to-understand guide we created for you, “Your Health Information, Your Rights!” It answers some important questions you might have.

 

We firmly believe that many cures are locked inside our records – and perhaps the data of millions of other patients as well.

We firmly believe in your right to have access to your data – and the power of Us.

We firmly believe in MyLinks.