Your Medical History Is Scattered Across Different Portals and Logins
An investor said he set up separate cloud folders just to store his parents' records.
Lightspeed Venture Partners · How AI Seeks to Change Every Step of the Patient Journey | LightworkYour medical records do not live in one place. They are spread across health systems, each with its own login and locked patient portal, an investor said.
His parents get care from different doctors in different places, and keeping track of what each office has on file is hard for them. To cope, he said, he set up a separate cloud folder for his mother and his father just to store what came back.
He said the bar for fixing this is very low because records are hard to gather in the first place, and it is unclear what to do with them once you have them.
Questions people ask
Why are my records so scattered?
In the United States there is no single medical record. Hospitals and clinics use different record systems, and while federal rules require them to share records with patients and other providers, the connections are often incomplete and hard to use.
Can I pull all my records into one place today?
You can, but it takes work. You have to open each portal, request records from each doctor and hospital, and save the results yourself. There is no single button that collects everything at once.
What would change if all that data came together?
A unified profile could put the full picture in one place for patients and doctors. In theory, that could mean fewer repeated forms and less time chasing files. A unified profile does not exist yet.