# How a PicnicHealth Timeline Comes Together By Liz Fosslien Mar 17, 2020 • 4 min read Picnic Health collects, digitizes, and organizes all your medical records - from all your doctors - in a sortable and complete timeline. You simply provide us with your basic medical information and we take it from there. Our team works very hard to spare you the normally painful and lengthy process of requesting and keeping track of your medical records. Here’s a look at everything (and everyone) that goes into creating and updating your Picnic Health Timeline. *Gillian showing off her desk (where the magic happens) at PicnicHealth HQ* ## Requesting your records We start by using the basic information you give us during the sign-up process to generate requests for your medical records. We will never ask you for any more details than we need - Picnic Health maintains a large database of doctors’ contact information we can use to fill in any gaps and check that we’re sending each record request to the right place. After we make sure that all the necessary contact information is correct, you sign your authorization forms via email and we send out your record requests. Since most offices and hospitals still use fax machines to process record requests, Troy and Pye have set up an automatic fax system. This saves us, you, and the environment piles of paper and lets us keep an electronic trail of all your requests. ## Collecting your records One to two days after we fax your record request forms, we call your doctors to confirm that all your requests have been received and processed. Doctors’ offices are notoriously busy, so we sometimes have to call every day for 5 - 6 days and endure hold music for hours before we get confirmation that your requests have been received. *Noga sometimes gets into the hold music* Depending on the number of records and the urgency of the request, it can take anywhere from a day to six weeks for your doctor to send us all your records. To make sure that nothing slips through the cracks, Sophie and Karyn closely track the status of every record we need to collect. If we haven’t received your records within a reasonable timeframe (which happens fairly often), we call your doctors to make sure your records are sent as soon as possible. ## Creating your timeline Medical records rarely come to us via email - even digital imaging studies are usually sent to us on a CD. Sophie carefully manages all incoming faxes and mail - it’s not easy work. *Sophie at PicnicHealth HQ with a day's worth of medical records* Sophie and Karen scan, digitize, and tag your records before uploading everything to your timeline. The tags we add - e.g. record type and visit date - allow you to easily sort and search your medical history. Pye then pulls out top-level information - important doctors’ notes, diagnoses, treatment plans - from each of your records to populate the boxes you see as you scroll through your timeline. Once we have the majority of your records, we send you an email letting you know that your timeline is ready! You can click on any record, including images, to view it in your browser or click the “Share Timeline” button to easily update your doctors or family about your health. ## Updating your timeline Depending on whether you sign up for a Starter or Pro Picnic Health plan, we reach out to all your doctors and request your new medical records twice a year (Starter) or after each new appointment (Pro). If you ask us to collect your records on an ongoing basis, we track your doctors’ notes for any mentions of follow-ups and also work with you to make sure your timeline stays up-to-date. *One of our engineering team busy building features to add to your PicnicHealth timeline* ## Hassle-free Medical Records In everything we do, our goal is to bring you peace of mind when you need it most. You will never have to frantically search for or request any of your records at a time when your medical care should be your primary focus. We are available at any time to answer your questions. Here's to hassle-free medical records! ### We know that every person's story is unique and deserves to be heard. Join our early breast cancer registry to be counted and share your story with research. ### Create a List List the names of all the doctors, hospitals, and other facilities your loved one visits regularly, along with those they have visited in the past. Try to go back as far as you can, striving for at least the last 5-10 years, but do your best. Even if you can’t remember them all, having a strong baseline can help you quickly identify gaps in records. #### Ensure You Have the Appropriate Legal Status It is important to make sure that you are fully empowered to make decisions on behalf of your loved one with Alzheimer’s. Your relationship status with the patient may not be enough to legally give you access to your loved one's medical information. It is a good idea to talk to an expert about securing special legal status, such as Power of Attorney (POA), a legal document that allows an individual to name someone as their decision maker should they no longer be able to make decisions on their own. #### Gather and Organize the Medical Records in One Place It’s important to have all of your loved one’s medical records together in one spot. This makes it much easier for you and your loved one’s physicians to accurately map the patient’s medical journey and more easily share information between doctors. Fortunately, tools exist to make record management and access simple. A free resource like PicnicHealth helps you collect and organize all of this information. PicnicHealth’s intuitive timeline allows you to pinpoint data across the medical history, eliminating your need for keeping heavy binders filled with paper records or keeping track of multiple software portal logins. #### Review the Medical Records to be an Informed Advocate The better you understand your loved one's medical history, the better you can advocate on their behalf. Access and understanding of this information will help you to ask informed questions with physicians. Through regular communication backed by the data in the medical records, you can help your loved one’s care team develop a more successful care plan.