This information is currently only available to members who have purchased insurance directly from healthcare.gov (health plans purchased as part of the Affordable Care Act) and for Medicare Advantage customers.
Medicare Advantage members should call 1-800-222-7645 for help with setting up your access.
We hope to have this information available for other customers in the near future.
My Health Information
Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are leading the healthcare industry to provide consumers with digital access to their healthcare data. We bank online, shop online, and can get a degree online, so we believe it’s time that patients are at the center of their own care and can digitally obtain a complete view of their health information.
- Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas (BCBSKS) believes patients own and should have access to their healthcare information, and should be able to:
- Easily retrieve all healthcare data that is meaningful or actionable and share that information securely with whom they choose.
- Be able to use apps or devices to access healthcare data to better understand, analyze, track and manage their healthcare needs.
- BCBS companies led the introduction of e-prescribing - safely and securely allowing physicians to write and send in prescriptions electronically instead of faxing or calling the pharmacy.
- While there’s still work to be done, we have made significant progress toward enabling patients to easily and securely retrieve their healthcare data. We’re working to standardize healthcare data, eliminate data access fees for patients, introduce consumer apps to provide greater access to healthcare data and end the use of outdated data collection and transmission systems across the healthcare industry.
- By simplifying the experience and offering patients the ability to easily and securely access their healthcare data online, BCBS companies can reduce burdens for both patients and physicians such as needing to physically pick up health records or tests.
BCBSKS gives digital access to your health data when and where you need it. We’re enhancing the way you access your health information to help you get the care you need, when you need it.
At BCBSKS, we believe member health data, such as electronic health records, should be available and accessible with a member's consent. This information can then be accurately interpreted in an electronic format if a member chooses to grant access (such as through digital healthcare applications).
Interoperability is the ability for electronic systems to be able to communicate and exchange data in the same way, which will allow consumers to access their healthcare data with security and ease. Interoperability empowers members, which leads to better health, improved affordability, and stronger communities.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finalized rules that create a more consistent framework for interoperability. This will give you greater access to your healthcare data as the member and owner of that data. Part of these changes include a simplified and consistent mechanism for apps to be able to ask you to allow their app to access your data.
This means that you as the member will have more control over who can access your healthcare data and you have more ability to protect your healthcare data. BCBSKS believes it’s important to provide you with educational resources concerning the privacy and security of your protected health information regarding disclosures of your information to third-party apps.
BCBSKS is required to provide a “Patient Access API.” This provides a simple way for apps to access your data when you allow them to do so. No app can access your data through the “Patient Access API” without you providing explicit permission. The value of the “Patient Access API” is that it makes it much cheaper and easier for apps to be developed that can access your data when you allow them to.
You can access your information directly through our member portal. The “Patient Access API” is specifically for applications as an API is a mechanism for software to communicate with other software.
If you’d like to allow access to your health data to another person (i.e. a spouse or a power of attorney) you can complete this form to give that authorization.
You can take advantage of these capabilities by downloading an Application (App) on your smart phone, tablet, computer or other similar device and checking to see if they have created a connection to BCBSKS. If they have then you can authorize the App to access your health data. The information available through the Patient Access API includes information we collect about you while you have been enrolled in certain lines of business since Jan. 1, 2016. The information includes the following information for as long as we maintain it in our records:
- Claims concerning your interactions with healthcare providers; and
- Clinical data that we collect in the process of providing case management, care coordination, or other services to you.
Information will not include any information about treatment for Substance Use Disorders or Mental Health treatment.
It is important for you to understand that the App you select will have access to ALL of your information. The App is NOT subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules and/or other privacy. Instead, the App’s own privacy policy describes self-imposed limitations on how the App will use, disclose, and (possibly) sell information about you. If you decide to access your information through the Patient Access API, you should carefully review the privacy policy of any App you are considering using to ensure you are comfortable with what the App will do with your information.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rules on interoperability limit what health insurance companies can do to stop Apps from asking you to access your health data. What BCBSKS can do under the rules is ask the App to promise that they will have a privacy policy and follow good practices on protecting your data. This process of asking the App is called “attestation.” An App developer may simply not respond to our request or may indicate that they do not follow the best practices that we’ve outlined. If you decide to stop using an App’s services, you should determine how to stop granting the App access to your data. BCBSKS will not necessarily know if you stop using an App, and depending on the App’s policy, it might continue accessing your health records.
- Will this App SELL my data for any reason?
- Will this App DISCLOSE my data to third parties for purposes such as research or advertising?
- How will this App USE my data? For what purposes?
- Will the App allow me to limit how it uses, discloses, or sells my data?
- If I no longer want to use this App, or if I no longer want this App to have access to my health information, can I terminate the App’s access to my data? If so, how difficult will it be to terminate access?
- What is the App’s policy for DELETING my data once I terminate access? Do I have to do more than just delete the App from my device?
- How will this App inform me of changes in its privacy practices?
- Will the App collect non-health data from my device, such as my location?
- What security measures does this App use to protect my data?
- What impact could sharing my data with this App have on others, such as my family members?
- Will the App permit me to access my data and correct inaccuracies? (Correcting inaccuracies in data collected by the App will not affect inaccuracies in the source of the data.)
- Does the App have a process for collecting and responding to user complaints?
- How long after I terminate access will the App store my data if it doesn’t have a deletion policy?
- What are the terms if I have a dispute with the App and how they use my data?
If the App’s privacy policy does not satisfactorily answer these questions, you may wish to reconsider using the App to access your health information. Your health information may include very sensitive information, therefore be careful to choose an App with strong privacy and security standards.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) enforces the HIPAA Privacy, Security, and Breach Notification Rules. BCBSKS is subject to HIPAA as are most healthcare providers, such as hospitals, doctors, clinics, and dentists. You can find more information about your rights under HIPAA and who is obligated to comply with HIPAA here: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-individuals. To learn more about filing a complaint with OCR related to HIPAA requirements, visit: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/filing-a-complaint. You may also file a complaint with BCBSKS by contacting Customer Service at 800-432-3990.
An App generally WILL NOT be subject to HIPAA. An App that publishes a privacy notice is required to comply with the terms of its notice, but generally is not subject to other privacy laws. The Federal Trade Commission Act protects against deceptive acts (such as an App that discloses personal data in violation of its privacy notice). An App that violates the terms of its privacy notice is subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC provides information about mobile App privacy and security for consumers here: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0018-understanding-mobile-apps. If you believe an App inappropriately used, disclosed, or sold your information, you should contact the FTC. You may file a complaint with the FTC using the FTC complaint assistant: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
- Medicare Advantage organizations: 42 C.F.R. § 422.119(g);
- Medicaid MCOs: 42 C.F.R. § 438.242(b)(5) (by reference to 42 C.F.R. § 431.60(f));
- CHIP MCOs: 42 C.F.R. § 457.1233(d)(2) (by reference to 42 C.F.R. § 457.730(f)); and
- QHP Issuers on FFEs: 45 C.F.R. § 156.221(g).