Questions We Get: How Do You Maintain the Confidentiality of Medical Records?

Dear Savvy Surrogate:

I’m interested in becoming a surrogate but I’m nervous about signing a medical records release. There are private things in my medical records and I don’t want portions of my medical records to end up on the internet! I don’t need my nosy mother-in-law reading my private business. And my medical records also contain information about me like my social security number and date of birth. Releasing the records makes me nervous about identity theft. Please help me understand—How do you maintain the confidentiality of my medical records?

Sincerely,

Nervous Surrogate

Dear Nervous:

At New England Surrogacy, we take your privacy seriously!

We have centralized our medical records collection process so that only one staff member is handling all of the medical records requests. You are asked to fill out a HIPAA compliant medical records release form (one per doctor/hospital) and our designated staff member takes care of interfacing with the doctor/hospital.

Your electronically stored medical records are accessible only to designated staff members who access the system through individually assigned passwords. If we receive medical records in paper format, we scan them into the electronic system and destroy (cross shred) the paper versions.

And, of course, medical records are released only with your permission.  It is our policy to only provide them to the reproductive endocrinologist (the IVF doctor) that does our initial intake review and to the clinic of your intended parents’ choosing.

As a surrogate, you can expect that your medical history will be an "open book" as far as your intended parents go. This means that you can expect the information in your medical records to be discussed with the intended parents. However we do not provide the intended parents with access to the actual medical records themselves or copies of the records (your doctor may have a different policy so please discuss this directly with him/her).

All intended parents agree as part of our program to respect the confidentiality of your medical information. We also do need to share your medical records with the doctors involved with the surrogacy, including the doctor who does our internal records review and the IVF doctor who performs your surrogate screening. 

We are confident that we have set up a secure system for handling of medical records. And we also carry cyber liability insurance as part of our insurance package as a second layer of protection.

So we feel confident your information is safe. Don’t worry about your nosy mother-in-law!

Do you have more questions about medical records or other questions related to surrogacy? Contact us—we’re here to help!

Sincerely,

The Savvy Surrogate