Medical records provide critical information to doctors; thanks to them, they are able to know the information that could influence their diagnosis. Some important factors that must be known are work, family history, medication currently being taken, blood analysis, among others.

Dr. Adolfo Carrillo has been working at Immunity Therapy Center (ITC) in Tijuana for 6 years. This is a medical center specialized in alternative treatments and holistic therapies against cancer. He claimed that medical records are a great help because they help to have a more complete view of patients, especially regarding treatments they have already received.

He added that it is possible for doctors to give a wrong treatment diagnosis if a patient’s medical records are not checked and said that analyzing this data is key so that this doesn’t happen. When checking medical records, a doctor can check whether you are allergic, if certain antibiotics haven’t worked in the past to deal with an infection, or if there are treatments that could interfere with current medications.

Carrillo recommends keeping a personal record of your medical records, either physically or digitally, as this is a big help when finding out about patients’ history. He said that in Mexico there is something similar to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), which is known as the Federal Commission of Protection Against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) who are in charge of handling medical records.

As Mexico is an international destination for this type of cancer treatments, especially with American and Canadian citizens, it is important to know that legally it is possible to keep these citizens’ medical records for up to 5 years; once it is over, they can be discarded.

It should be noted that all forms shown to ITC patients must be written in Spanish due to its location, but they are also shown in English so that patients are fully aware of all the things they agree to when they come here. In addition, once patients are discharged or transferred, they are provided with a physical medical summary with all of the tests, analysis, reports, and studies that were carried out, both past and current, in English.

It should be mentioned that ITC patients are constantly told about the procedures and results of their studies so that they understand their current health status and the progress that has occurred. This way, they can tell all of this to their primary doctor once their treatment at ITC is over. In addition, if your doctor has any questions regarding your treatments, they can always get in contact with ITC, who will gladly answer their questions.

Learn more about ITC on this episode of Baja Window to the South!