It’s totally natural for us to be cautious when it comes to our personal health information – this information is private, and often sensitive. The idea of a person, without our consent, rummaging through this information is a concern. This concern is compounded when considering electronic information, which can be copied and transmitted with ease.
- Who can see them?
- Are they safe?
- Are they accurate?
- Is my information being sold on?
These concerns arise because as it stands, none of us really own our own medical records.
They are spread about between our GPs, hospitals, and clinics, the information stored on a bewildering array of different computer systems. Did you know a single hospital may hold information about you on half-a-dozen different systems, each one provided by a different company, with different levels of security and access? Yet strangely, the only person who doesn’t have any control over it or access to it, is you!
A new approach
Evergreen Life is all about turning this model on its head to put you in control. We give you a place to store your medical information, and the best part is you have total control over it, who sees it, and what they see. We believe that each of us should own our records, not the doctor’s surgery, not the hospital. It’s for you to say who can see it, which bits of it are private, or whether you want it used by researchers to help others in the future.
Why we are different
We’re not just another company looking to make money from taking your data, selling it to advertisers and insurance companies. Quite the opposite. When we say that you own and control your record, we really mean it. None of the data we store for you will be shared, sold on, used to target advertising, aggregated for reporting, or otherwise used without your expressed consent. Ever.
(…and “consent” doesn’t mean ticking a box to say that you agree to 20 pages of small print which nobody will ever read! We will always be clear and up-front. We want to put you in control).
But you talk about sharing data a lot…
Yes, we do. We know that sharing your data accurately is one of the best ways to improve healthcare. The fact is that data isn’t shared very well between clinics, doctors, and hospitals, leading to many mistakes, extra tests which aren’t needed, and pointless appointments – all of which not only wastes the taxpayer’s time and money but can lead to unnecessary incidents and even deaths. We can improve this by allowing you to access your record from anywhere and share it with anyone you choose.
We also know that health records are a great resource for medical research. Research requires large numbers of records in order to produce new treatments and spot problems with existing ones. We believe that donating your data to such research is a good thing to do. The point is that you will choose if, and when, and what to share, not us, nor anybody else.
Safety
That’s all well and good, but is your data safe with us? Hacks of people’s logins and bank details are almost weekly news these days.
We have extensive experience in writing large software systems for hospitals – over 60 years between us. We understand how important your data is, we are used to working in very secure environments, and have taken a lot of time to do things right. Evergreen Life is all about removing the barriers that prevent you from experiencing the best care possible, and also enable you to take ownership of your health and wellbeing. Bringing all of your health information together, in the palm of your hand.
Evergreen Life.
