The Basics

• How do I get information into my online health library?

• How to I get my information out?

• How much does it cost?

Your Rights

• What if my healthcare provider will not release my health records?

Access to Records

• Who has access to my records?

• What would happen if I am taken to a hospital and I am unconscious?

• What would happen in an emergency if I have not designated an Additional Authorized Person or I don't have my wallet card?  Would my physicians have access to my online records?

• What happens if I lose my FHL Membership card?

• What if I forget my user name and or password?

• If I give someone Power of Attorney, do they have access to my records?

• How can others access my records?  

• Can my records be accessed if I am outside the United States?

• How does FHL verify that a doctor who calls in is really a doctor in order to grant access to my records?

Limits

• How many Additional Authorized Persons can I have?

• How many physicians or other providers can I designate?

• Is there a page limit for the health records that FHL will make part of my on line library?

Adding or Changing Information

• What if I move or wish to change other personal information?

• How do I add a new doctor or other healthcare provider?

• How often is my record updated?

• Can I delete any of my online health records?

Ask FHL

If your question is not answered among these FAQs, please email FHL with your question and we will respond immediately.

You can have your healthcare provider(s) fax information to FHL's toll free number, or if you have your medical records you can fax them to FHL directly.  All you have to do is to print an Authorization/Fax Cover Sheet from the FHL web site.  You or your provider(s) may also mail your records to FHL and we will digitize them and put them into your online library.  If your records exist in electronic form, they can be emailed to documents@familyhealthlibrary.com.  If you are Premium Member, you may use any of these methods in addition to FHL's service of gathering your records from your providers for you on the schedule you have selected.

Medical records in your online library are stored as Acrobat PDF files and you can print them or email them as you like.  Many of the pages in your Personal Health Record can also be printed or emailed.

Basic Individual Memberships in Family Health Library are $60 per year.  The Basic Family Membership is $100 per year and includes membership for two adults and two children under the age of twenty-one (21).  Additional adult memberships within a family group are $40 per year and additional children memberships within a family group are $25 per year.  FHL's Premium Membership for individuals is $95 per year and it includes gathering your medical records from your Primary Care Physician once per year.  Additional information gatherings can be scheduled by you at a cost of $65 each.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, (HIPAA), requires that healthcare providers who bill for medical services electronically must provide patients with copies of their records.  HIPAA also provides that the healthcare provider may charge the patient a reasonable fee for copying or otherwise making the records available.  For information on the provisions of HIPAA please visit: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/hipaa/.  You can also learn more about what providers may charge for copying medical records by visiting FHL's Links page.

Access to your records is controlled by you.  Only those persons you designate can have access to them.

Most hospital emergency room procedures involve inspecting a patient's wallet to see if there are any health-related instructions.  When you place your FHL Membership card in your wallet, it will be available to be found by emergency caregivers.  The Membership card will contain all the information necessary for access to your records via the FHL web site. 

If you are not conscious, have not designated an Additional Authorized Person or do not have your wallet card, FHL will not grant access to your records to anyone.  It is for this reason that it is important to designate one or more Additional Authorized Persons.  FHL recommends that you consider designating your primary care provider as an Additional Authorized Person at a minimum.

Your records can be accessed from anywhere in the world with your user name and password from a computer that has internet access.

Members of the Basic Plan use only the fax-in method and may designate as many health care providers as they wish.  Members of the Premium Plan can choose to have FHL contact any number of physicians or other providers on their behalf to gather records, or they can use the fax-in method to gather records at no additional charge.

There is no limit on the number of pages for any document in your on line health records library.  Except for hospitalizations, documents of any size may be faxed or mailed to FHL for incorporation into your on line health library without additional charge.  For hospital records, FHL's Special Services fees apply.  

Adding a new doctor or other heathcare provider is easily done.  Log in to you secure area on FHL's web site and follow the simple instructions.

Under the Basic Membership Plan your record is updated each time a provider faxes or mails documents to FHL based on the request you make at the time of a visit.  If the provider uses the FHL fax cover sheet, your record is almost immediately updated.  If the provider mails the documents to FHL and they must be processed manually, incorporation of the documents may take one to three business days from the time we receive the record.

Under the Premium Membership Plan, your record will be updated each time we receive documents from your provider pursuant to a request we make on your behalf.  You can also use the fax-in method to keep your record current. 

As a security measure, you must call FHL’s customer service department if you wish to delete any information.  A representative will verify your identity and make the change that you request.