Patent ID: 8620688

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of controlling access to a plurality of electronic medical records related to a plurality of individuals, comprising: configuring a network-accessible storage repository to store the plurality of electronic medical records, wherein the electronic records for a given individual are associated with an electronic health records account (EHR account); providing the individual with at least one portable, EHR account access device, wherein the access device includes a predefined authorization key that authorizes a plurality of requesting entities with access to the EHR account when presented with the access device; receiving, over a data-communications network, a request from one of the requesting entities, wherein the request includes at least one transaction to be processed, the predefined authorization key from the access device given to the requesting entity by the individual, and a predefined requestor identification identifying the requesting entity, wherein the access device authorizes the entity presented with the access device to (i) perform a deposit transaction, wherein the deposit transaction submits additional electronic records associated with the individual stored in the network-accessible storage repository or (ii) to retrieve electronic records associated with the individual from the network-accessible repository; authorizing the request based on both the predefined authorization key and the predefined requestor identification key; performing the at least one transaction included in the request by use of one or more computer processors for the EHR account; for each record accessed by one of the requesting entities, generating a report, wherein the generated report includes a listing of requests to access records associated with the individual and the respective requestor identification for each request; and providing the reports to the individual.