Abstract: Methods and apparatus enabling organizations with a need to communicate with healthcare providers regarding health-related issues affecting patient health to notify healthcare providers of a health-related issue affecting patient health are disclosed. An electronic notification of the health-related issue is transmitted by one of the organizations to a healthcare notification network for transmission to a healthcare provider, where the electronic notification includes a mechanism for obtaining an acknowledgement indicating that the healthcare provider has received and opened the electronic notification. The acknowledgement is then received by the network from the healthcare provider, where the acknowledgement indicates that the healthcare provider has received and opened the electronic notification. In response to the notification received from the organization, the healthcare provider transmits a notification of the health-related issue to the affected patients.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for storing health records in a secured manner are disclosed. Access to a patient's online health record is controlled by the patient (or the patient's caregiver). Specifically, a patient may choose to either grant or deny access rights to an individual such as a healthcare provider. Access rights may include read, write, and forwarding privileges.