Abstract: A method and apparatus for obtaining and storing medical records of a patient from an entity covered by HIPAA in a form allowing quick disclosure of the patient's medical history to a third party without restriction or delay by HIPAA. The method comprises inducing a patient to obtain possession of his or her own medical record from a covered entity; acquiring the medical record from the patient in a storage format; and storing the medical record in a memory in a form from which it can be reproduced in the storage format as received from the patient. The memory used to store the medical record can be a hard drive in an Internet server, or be a portable medium, such as a CD or DVD, and can be small enough to fit in the patient's wallet, purse or pocket.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for obtaining and storing medical records of a patient from an entity covered by HIPAA in a form allowing quick disclosure of the patient's medical history to a third party without restriction or delay by HIPAA. The method comprises inducing a patient to obtain possession of his or her own medical record from a covered entity; acquiring the medical record from the patient in a storage format; and storing the medical record in a memory in a form from which it can be reproduced in the storage format as received from the patient. The memory used to store the medical record can be a hard drive in an Internet server, or be a portable medium, such as a CD or DVD, and can be small enough to fit in the patient's wallet, purse or pocket.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for obtaining and storing medical records of a patient from an entity covered by HIPAA in a form allowing quick disclosure of the patient's medical history to a third party without restriction or delay by HIPAA. The method comprises inducing a patient to obtain possession of his or her own medical record from a covered entity; acquiring the medical record from the patient in a storage format; and storing the medical record in a memory in a form from which it can be reproduced in the storage format as received from the patient. The memory used to store the medical record can be a hard drive in an Internet server, or be a portable medium, such as a CD or DVD, and can be small enough to fit in the patient's wallet, purse or pocket. The apparatus is a medical storage system that can be used to carry out the method, which comprises a communication interface linked to the Internet and a data storage device.