Fast Access to Health Data as a patient Right

The next stage of meaningful-use standards for electronic health records should allow patients to almost immediately retrieve information from their medical records, the Society for Participatory Medicine says in comments submitted this week to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Urging CMS to adopt the mantra “nothing about me without me,” the Newburyport, Mass.-based patient-rights group also argues for automated functions that would allow patients to more easily access their health information.