To put all minds at ease, you can find on the board that this post was originally made on the patient's retraction of the assertions he made. MMS did NOT "turn anyone over to the feds". This patient was contacted by his doctor's office and claims that they informed him that THEY were prosecuting him. This has not been substantiated by MMS.

MMS considers this a private matter between this particular patient and our organization, not to exclude the obvious interest and attention that this post received. We must, in spite of these erroneous claims and the maelstrom of hateful email which followed, protect this patient's privacy.

I was pleased to see that this issue started so many people talking - the issue is critical to the industry as a whole. When people alter or falsify medical records, they knowingly or unknowingly commit a crime. When they actually convince a doctor that these records are legitimate and they receive treatment under these auspices, the severity of that crime is compounded significantly. What may seem a small and trivial act of desperation can quickly escalate to a situation which may involve local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies and which can jeopardize the freedom of both patients and health care professionals, as well as professional licenses and businesses such as online consult services and OPs.

BOTTOM LINE - don't alter your records. It isn't worth it. If you suffer from a chronic condition, you are most likely seeing a physician regularly. If not, you SHOULD be. A simple physical exam citing reference to your chief complaint is sufficient for most cases to constitute adequate medical records. The cost is nominal compared to what you risk otherwise.

Altered records are typically easy for a trained health care professional to spot and VERY easy to substantiate. HIPAA provides rights to any "covered entity" (including doctors, pharmacies, and "health care clearinghouses" such as MMS) to exchange any information specifically related to your medical history, treatment, and other related information.

Even if your "revised" records work with a consult service who does NOT scrutinize medical records as thoroughly as MMS does, that other service may be shut down someday. If this should happen, guess where your records are going to end up?...

If you think that altering records or falsifying a doctor's note or the like is not such a serious thing to do, be warned - the FBI and the DEA do NOT agree with you.