

Now, as the center’s chief medical officer, she serves children who go to the same elementary school she once attended.īecause the health center provides primary care in an area that has a shortage of health care professionals, Portela had the opportunity to apply to the National Health Service Corps’ (NHSC’s) loan repayment program and was accepted. That revelation pushed her to accept a job at the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, a community health center that is less than a mile away from where she grew up in the primarily Hispanic-populated Logan Square neighborhood. But then she realized that she had strayed from her original reason for becoming a doctor. Portela went on to become a physician, and after completing a residency in pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine, she took a job in the suburbs. I’m going to serve the people I grew up with.’”

“‘I’m going to speak to people in my language. “I said, ‘Mom, I’m going to do this,’” she recalls. The experience made such an impression on her that she decided she would become a doctor someday and care for people who had similar experiences to her and her family. Portela is a recipient of the National Health Service Corps loan repayment program for health professionals working in underserved communities.Īs the child of Colombian immigrants living in Chicago, Paola Portela, MD, grew up getting her health care at government-funded clinics. This information is used by life insurance or disability insurance companies to determine whether or not they will sell you insurance.Paola Portela, MD, chief medical officer of the Infant Welfare Society of Chicago, plays with a young patient. Prescription databases like IntelliScript (Milliman) and MedPoint (Ingenix) very likely have data-mined records on all the prescription drugs you have bought over the past 5 or more years.The MIB Group may have an individual record on you that is not subject to HIPAA laws. It provides information to life insurance companies to assess a person's eligibility for coverage. Medical Information Bureau (the MIB Group) is a non-profit entity that was founded more than 125 years ago.If you're in a workplace accident, the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) might need to review your records. For example, law enforcement and child protective services might be able to see your records if a subpoena is obtained. In addition to medical payment, other agencies may have access to your records as well. Federal and state governments may have a right to your medical records.Insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, workers compensation, Social Security disability, the Department of Veterans Affairs, or any institutional entity that pays for any portion of your healthcare might need to review your records. Your healthcare payers have a right to get copies of and use your medical records according to HIPAA laws.For example, if your primary care doctor refers you to a specialist, you might be asked to sign a form that says they can share your records with that specialist. Your healthcare providers have a right to see and share your records with anyone that you have given permission.A loved one or caregiver may have the right to get copies of your medical records if you give them permission to.You have a legal right to copies of your own medical records.
