Have you ever read your therapy notes?

After doing a little more digging I don't think that the notes are visible to other providers unless you provide consent to share between providers. Typically, when you go to a doctor, you sign a consent form allowing the sharing of your medical records as part of your initial paperwork. (This is almost always so that providers can send your medical records to your insurance company.)

I'm having a hard time imagining that all your healthcare providers are logging into an online portal and seeing your notes from every other provider. Like, why would my dentist or chiropractor need to see the results of my recent STI screening?

I think the idea is that patients need to have online access to their notes and then it makes sharing between providers, if the patient chooses, much easier.

Having said all that, I happened to have had a conversation with my therapist just last week about how I didn't want to know my diagnosis unless I put a (metaphorical) gun to his head. Now he's required to make that information immediately available to me and the temptation to read it is obviously there and I really don't like that it's putting me in this position, because of course I'm going to read everything he's written about me and then ruminate about it endlessly.

I used to work with insurance companies and medical records and already have a heightened sensitivity to what sort of information can be in there.

/r/TalkTherapy Thread Parent