Parental Access to Electronic Health Records

Patient portals are now the primary way patients and families access medical records, making consistent and appropriate guardian access increasingly important. In this webinar, members of NCHA’s Parental Access to Electronic Health Record Task Force share best practices for maximizing parent and guardian access to minors’ medical information through proxy accounts in online patient portals while remaining compliant with state and federal laws.

Presenters review the functionalities most commonly identified by guardians and providers as essential for proxy access, including access to non-confidential medications, lab results, appointments, and other key health information. They discuss their organizations’ experiences implementing these best practices within the Epic System, highlighting lessons learned, challenges encountered, practical solutions, and recommendations for successful implementation. 

The session emphasizes how thoughtful implementation of adolescent proxy access best practices can help organizations provide guardians with more consistent and reliable access to their child’s medical information, as permitted by law. While the webinar focuses on Epic-specific guidance, the discussion and recommendations may also be valuable for organizations using other electronic health record systems.