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.
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.
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 makes 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 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.
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!
Empower people to own their medical records. Advance medicine. We’re a passionate group of doctors, patients, data nerds, engineers, and builders, who believe in making something real that changes lives today and in the future.
Sign Up
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.
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.
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.
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.
Learn more about PicnicHealth’s commitment to the Alzheimer’s community and the Alzheimer’s Association
Learn MoreIf your loved one is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, putting a support system together might not seem like priority #1. But it’s never too soon to build a network of people that you can turn to in times of need. Cultivate connections today with the people who can be there tomorrow, or whenever you might need a hand.
You may also want to connect with other Alzheimer’s caregivers through a support group, whether it meets in-person or online. In addition to the encouragement and empathy they provide, support groups can be a helpful source of tips, resources, and recommendations for navigating the world of Alzheimer’s.
If your loved one is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, putting a support system together might not seem like priority #1. But it’s never too soon to build a network of people that you can turn to in times of need. Cultivate connections today with the people who can be there tomorrow, or whenever you might need a hand.
You may also want to connect with other Alzheimer’s caregivers through a support group, whether it meets in-person or online. In addition to the encouragement and empathy they provide, support groups can be a helpful source of tips, resources, and recommendations for navigating the world of Alzheimer’s.
It isn’t always easy to look into the future with Alzheimer’s—but doing the legwork now will save you from stress later. If your loved one is in the early stages of illness, you can involve them in conversations about legal, financial, and long-term care planning decisions. Despite the difficulty of these topics, you’ll all feel empowered by facing them early, and you can move ahead with greater confidence.
It’s an exciting time for Alzheimer’s research, with new treatments in development and coming to market. Ask your loved one’s doctors about therapies they can try or clinical trials they can join. One easy way to participate in research is to sign up at PicnicHealth, which helps to advance Alzheimer’s science by sharing participants’ anonymous health data with some of the brightest minds in research.
It may seem self-centered to focus on self-care—but when you feel good, you can be a better caregiver. Whether it’s exercise, a mindfulness practice, a soak in the bath, or just time to rest when you need it, carve out those moments in the day when you can unwind, reset, and stay healthy mentally and physically. Think of it as building up your reserves of kindness, patience, and understanding—which can only benefit your loved one with Alzheimer’s. And don’t forget to keep a sense of humor along the way.
Easily manage all of your loved one's medical records and contribute to ongoing Alzheimer's research with PicnicHealth.
Learn More(from 13 patients with LC-FAOD)
38% Female
15 providers / patient
7.5 years of data / patient
(from 13 patients with LC-FAOD)
We hope you found this session informative! Sign up for PicnicHealth’s Alzheimer’s research program below.
Join Now
Download this list to save onto your phone or print it out for your fridge!
Download this poster to save onto your phone or print it out for your fridge!
