Anyone know the details on Hackensack-Meridian's "MyChart"?

Submitted by AlcoholPrep t3_zybmga in newjersey

Apparently, MyChart is a means of viewing all your medical results from HM clinics and hospitals. My problem with it is that I cannot find the "Terms and Conditions" or "Privacy" statements. It seems that one can only read those after signing up for the service -- which entails inputting all your personal data.

Now HM and other medical practices, themselves, are covered by HIPAA. However, I have learned that some of these "information and results" services are not so covered -- or at least not by the same HIPAA agreement (or statement) that the medical practice itself is covered by.

I ran into this with a previous medical practice that did allow me to read its terms and conditions statement before signing up. In that statement it said that I could not go to a court over any disputes with them (presumably including maybe that they gave away all my medical or personal information), and they named the arbiter -- which turns out to be an organization that strongly favors the business over the consumer (patient in this case). Furthermore, were they determined to be at fault, the most I could collect would be $100. So they could give away all my personal and medical information, resulting in identity theft that might cost me tens of thousands of dollars to remedy, but they'd be liable for only $100. Needless to say, I didn't sign up for that particular "service."

So, HM has been dunning me with exhortation to sign up for MyChart -- from a "donotreply" email address. I find no option to contact HM at all for additional information about MyChart. I cannot read the terms and conditions without first signing up.

Does anyone know a way around this Catch-22? Or a link to the terms and conditions and privacy statements? Maybe someone who uses MyChart already could post those statements here?

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AlcoholPrep OP t1_j26rggy wrote

Replying to jaymon1974 (#1,156,962)

You're right. Funny how they tuck that away at the bottom -- in smaller font.

First read-through, I don't find anything highly objectionable in the T&C, but I'll study it more before signing up.

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_TommySalami t1_j278kbt wrote

MyChart is the patient portal for Epic Software, a health care records EMR package for hospitals. It's not just used by Hackensack-Meridian, but by the majority of healthcare providers in the U.S. I used to administer the software for another hospital system. I use MyChart personally, it's convenient and Epic doesn't own your data, or even manage it, the provider does.

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Whether you use MyChart or not, if you use that provider, your data is in their EMR system. PHI (patient health information) is highly protected by protocols and we had to pass training about possible infractions every year to remain employed.

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AlcoholPrep OP t1_j28lyh1 wrote

Replying to _TommySalami (#1,169,397)

That's good to hear, but why does HM hide all this behind a wall of obfuscation? Why when I try to contact THEM for the T&C do they roundly ignore me? Why did I have to ask Redditors to get this information?

I've already mentioned my serious concerns with another such records system. I didn't mention that I ran into similar concerns back when I was first trying to get a COVID vaccination. RiteAid Pharmacy was giving them, but online registration was required and I could not get enough information where my personal information was being stored. The 3rd-party registrar gave no indication that it complied with HIPAA. (It may well have done, but I couldn't find that info.) Same problem with a surgical center -- that also used a 3rd party for communication.

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