Accessing your health information is both your right and an important first step towards personalized health care

A recent Wall Street Journal article focused on the benefits of becoming more knowledgeable about your healthcare records. In addition to an overview of recent changes in healthcare information technology, the article identified five key steps towards taking charge of your health data:

Demand it: You have the right, under federal law, to obtain copies of your medical information from virtually any place you receive health-care services.

Organize it: Accessing your data gives you the chance to organize it, making it easy to understand and use.

Share it: Having health information available allows you to share it, without waiting for your doctor’s office to send it.

Generate it: The use of wearable devices is expanding– from tracking steps walked and calories burned to monitoring your heart rate. If knowledge is power, these devices provide you with an unprecedented ability to keep yourself healthy and keep problems under control.

Protect it: Storing information on a personal computer or smartphone does make it vulnerable to loss, theft, or hacking; personal device security is vital to the protection of your data.

From the standpoint of personal injury law, if clients are on top of their medical records, it will be much easier to identify injuries that occurred as a result of an accident; this makes the recovery process faster and more efficient.