In today’s world there are many public forums keeping track of your medical history including patient notes. In order to make it easier for insurance companies obtain medical information about you, many insureds allow direct access to My Chart. This is a big mistake.
To begin, if you give permission to your insurance company to have access to your medical records through My Chart, you will never have control over what your insurer obtains, reviews, sees, who they talk to, or how many times insurers contacted your doctors. In other words, the amount of medical data seen by your insurer will also include medical procedures and physician contacts that DO NOT have anything to do with your claimed disability.
Recently, I was recently retained by a client who worked for a very large company with self-insured coverage for short-term disability. The employer got carried away and obtained all medical records from My Chart and actually contacted a PT facility to ask for an amendment to a Functional Capacity Evaluation. This sort of thing is really an unfair claims practice and points directly to the abuses that can happen when access is given to My Chart, or whatever data program is available in your state.
It is far better to only sign insurer Authorizations to obtain records directly from treating physicians, or request your insurer let you know what they need, and then you provide it. This way you can control who is asking for what, and when it was provided. My Chart is usually available to all hospitals and treating physicians. Multiple physicians can have your entire history at their finger tips for each patient. However, it is NOT a good thing to allow insurance companies full access because they can obtain any records they want, behind your back so to speak, and you do not want that.
So, my recommendation is not to sign any Authorizations giving permission to a self-insured employer or insurance company to have access to My Chart. Insist that insurers let you know what they need for records, and then you get them and send them in.
If you need assistance with your claim please feel free to contact me at:
lindanee.dcs@gmail.com or for more information about my services visit my website at: http://www.disabilityclaimssolutions.com
