The New Year is often a time for people to think about their health plans. And while “new year, new me” might not extend to “new health insurance”, your patients may be considering taking out or renewing their health or life insurance policy.

Health and life insurers often require their customers to provide significant details of their health and medical history. The Privacy Commissioner strongly discourages insurance companies from collecting copies of full medical notes, as it is not necessarily relevant to making insurance decisions, such as whether to insure someone or to pay out on a claim.

Right to access

However, patients are entitled to ask for their health or medical information from their medical professional. This right to access covers all the information the agency has about the patient, including all their medical notes and history.

This right exists regardless of the reason a patient might want their records – whether to support their insurance application, to seek a second opinion, to complain about a service, or simply for their own information.

It’s important to make sure your clinic or practice has a clear and straightforward policy for handling patient requests for their information. This policy should include how patients can request their information (via their GP, the practice manager, or receptionist), and how long it will take to respond; and how to make sure the information is going to the patient or someone otherwise authorised or entitled to receive it.

Remember that the Privacy Act specifies a time limit for responding to an access request – in most cases, no longer than 20 working days.

The practice policy should also cover the process for deciding whether any of the information in the patient’s file should be withheld in accordance with the Privacy Act and Health Information Privacy Code.

Charging

There are very few circumstances where agencies can charge for providing health information.

If you are part of a public sector agency like a district health board, you may not charge anything. If you are a private sector agency, like a GP or a private clinic/hospital, you may make a reasonable charge if:

• the request is for a copy of an x-ray, video recording, MRI scan, PET scan or CAT scan (due to the costs associated with providing information in these formats); or
• the individual has previously requested, and been provided with, the same health information within the last year.

Working with your patient

If a patient asks for their full medical notes so that they can apply for health insurance, you can work with them to make sure they provide the right and full information to the insurer. Just as the Privacy Commissioner discourages insurance companies from collecting full medical notes directly from the doctor, we do not recommend that patients request a copy of their full medical history just to send them on to the insurer.

Working with your patients so that they understand their medical notes and history, and know what to tell the insurer, will help make sure that they are appropriately insured. It may also save your practice time in responding to a patient’s request for their information.

First published in New Zealand Doctor on 27 March 2019.

Image credit: Stethoscope free image via Pixabay

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