Who can see my medical records?
Did you know that all doctors, including occupational physicians, have a duty of confidentiality? This is stipulated in the Wet BIG (Individual Healthcare Professions Act). This means that, in principle, only your own (company) doctor may view your medical information. This page gives you clear information about this.
Exceptions
There are a few situations in which your medical information may be viewed by another doctor. This is only allowed if you have given explicit permission. Usually this is done through an authorization. But beware, there are a few exceptions. These exceptions are listed in the Medical Data Directive of the KNMG (Royal Dutch Medical Association).
- During substitution (for example, during vacation or illness), the physician's substitute has temporary access to your file. The substitute will then continue the care of your own (company) doctor.
- Use of medical data for quality assurance. premise is that your data will always be anonymized and your data cannot be traced back to you.
Quality Assurance
This last exception, quality control, we will explain further below. Quality control is performed everywhere in society, including physicians. This can be done in two ways:
- Your own doctor discusses (part of) your file anonymously with colleagues. This concerns medical policy, reintegration policy, reporting, and so on. The goal is to learn with and from each other.
- The Occupational Health Service randomly and periodically has a number of files critically examined by an occupational physician. The purpose of this is to examine and improve the quality level of the total medical service of Zorg van de Zaak according to the standards of the professional group. This reviewing company doctor pays attention for example to following guidelines, handling deadlines and the organization and completeness of the files. The results of this review are always processed anonymously.
Prior to this quality review by another doctor, permission to access your medical file must be requested. Moreover, the KNMG has determined that you must be informed in advance that your file may be used for this purpose and you must be given the opportunity to object to this. For review of administrative and process data, automatic consent is assumed.
This page was created to inform you about this. In addition, the consultation feedback letter includes a paragraph stating that your file may be viewed for quality purposes.
If you do not want your file to be used for quality purposes, you can indicate this to the (company) doctor. They will then make a note in your file so that it can only be consulted by their own doctor or company doctor and only in case of a substitution.