Project Medical Reform Association (PMRA)

Petition Summary

If you have ever been to a hospital or doctor’s office, have you checked the notes in the online portal system to see if they are accurate? These little inaccuracies you may discover may follow you for years if not corrected promptly. Medical records are very important in getting care. So many people are tossed around in the medical system with disorganized notes and doctors getting away with being able to say “nothing is wrong” or blaming some other issue when the notes just were not written correctly in the first place, for example. Have you ever wanted to fix these notes but felt frustrated that you had little options, knowing that it may take a lot of work to get it resolved?

At PMRA, we believe patients deserve a modern, transparent, and efficient process for disputing medical documentation.

Through this petition, we are requesting healthcare systems, electronic health record (EHR) companies, lawmakers, regulators, and healthcare organizations to establish a secure online dispute system that allows patients to promptly and easily challenge inaccurate medical notes while preserving the integrity of the original medical record.

The reason “promptly and easily” are emphasized is because people who are the most ill and vulnerable may not have the energy or luxury of time to fight these disputes or put claims in. The system is designed in a way that makes it a lengthy, confusing process to challenge erroneous notes.

The Problem

Patients frequently discover errors in their medical records, including:

• Incorrect symptoms or diagnoses
• Statements that were never made
• Missing information that changes the context of a visit
• Documentation copied from previous visits that is no longer accurate
• Incorrect medications or allergies
• Inaccurate physical examination findings
• Incorrect descriptions of patient behavior
• Mistaken family or medical history
• Documentation entered into the wrong patient’s chart

These errors can follow patients for years and may influence future healthcare decisions.

Current correction processes are often:

• Difficult to locate
• Paper-based
• Slow
• Confusing
• Inconsistently handled
• Limited to brief amendment requests
• Resolved without meaningful communication

Patients deserve better.

We Are Calling For

We ask healthcare organizations to implement secure patient dispute portals that allow patients to:

• Submit disputes directly from the patient portal.
• Identify the exact sentence, paragraph, or section being disputed.
• Explain why the information is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Upload supporting documentation when available.
• Track the status of their dispute in real time.
• Receive written responses explaining the outcome.
• Escalate disputes to an independent review process when appropriate.
• Receive decisions within a reasonable timeframe.

Protecting Medical Integrity

This petition does not ask that patients be allowed to erase medical records or rewrite clinician documentation.

Instead, we propose that:

• Original notes remain permanently preserved.
• The disputed portion is clearly flagged.
• The patient’s explanation becomes part of the permanent medical record.
• Approved corrections or amendments are clearly documented with timestamps.
• Future healthcare providers can easily see that a portion of the record has been challenged or corrected.

This approach promotes transparency while maintaining the historical integrity of medical documentation.

Why This Matters

Accurate medical records can affect:

• Patient safety
• Medication decisions
• Diagnostic accuracy
• Emergency treatment
• Disability determinations
• Insurance approvals and denials
• Workers’ compensation claims
• Veterans’ benefits
• Social Security disability cases
• Medical research
• Continuity of care

A single inaccurate statement can continue affecting patients for many years.

Benefits

Creating an online dispute system would:

• Improve patient safety
• Increase trust between patients and healthcare professionals
• Reduce preventable medical errors
• Improve record accuracy
• Strengthen transparency
• Encourage collaborative healthcare
• Save administrative time through standardized digital workflows
• Create accountability for corrections

Our Request

We respectfully urge:

• Hospitals
• Health systems
• Medical practices
• Electronic health record vendors
• State and federal policymakers
• Healthcare accreditation organizations

to work together to establish secure, standardized online medical record dispute systems that are accessible to every patient. We ask lawmakers to consider making this a new law.

Healthcare works best when medical records are accurate, transparent, and open to timely correction when mistakes occur.

Patients deserve a meaningful voice in the accuracy of the records that help determine their care.

Sign this petition if you believe every patient should have a fair, accessible, and timely way to dispute inaccurate medical records through a secure online platform and that you feel it should become a law that hospitals must abide by.