Patient-controlled health records AI
OwnChart
OwnChart is a source-available, self-hosted personal health record and AI research workspace for patients, caregivers, and families. It strongly expands agency in design by making records source-backed, correctable, cited, and patient-controlled, but remains draft because users must operate sensitive PHI infrastructure and several safeguards are beta, maturing, or roadmap. Disclosure: OwnChart's maintainer is a friend, colleague, and collaborator of HugoScore's maintainer, so this profile is not an independent review.
Public-source research has been drafted; final human publication review and change-log detail are still required.
Summary judgment · 94% toward patient-directed
Strongly agency-expanding, with beta/security caveats
OwnChart is designed for patients and caregivers to own the deployment, data, model keys, consent settings, corrections, and source evidence; confidence is limited by beta maturity and unverified security/usability evidence.
Patient agency
How this tool changes agency
OwnChart supports longitudinal record questions, Dossiers, Events, source review, visit preparation, user correction, export, and caregiver memory support.
Use is voluntary and self-hosted, but meaningful choice requires installing, securing, backing up, and operating PHI infrastructure.
Patient-facing signals
Who does this AI serve?
Official materials state the patient or caregiver is the user, owner, corrector, and final authority over corrections, and that the institution is not the customer.
Can patients tell AI is involved?
AI-assisted Ask, cited answers, model runs, provider choices, and consent gates are visible product concepts.
Can patients meaningfully choose?
Use is voluntary and self-hosted, but meaningful choice requires installing, securing, backing up, and operating PHI infrastructure.
Can patients correct or challenge what the AI produces?
User-controlled correction, preserved sources, citations, candidates-not-commits, and audit trails are explicit doctrines, but hands-on verification was not performed.
Does it help patients understand or act?
OwnChart supports longitudinal record questions, Dossiers, Events, source review, visit preparation, user correction, export, and caregiver memory support.
Text findings
Conflict of interest
Maintainer is a friend, colleague, and collaborator of HugoScore's maintainer
OwnChart's maintainer, Nick Dawson, is a friend, professional colleague, and collaborator and advisor of Hugo Campos, and both projects come from the same patient-directed AI advocacy community. This profile should not be read as independent review, and third-party review is invited.
Who is left out or burdened?
Technical and security burden is substantial
Self-hosting favors users with hardware, time, and security confidence. Public evidence did not establish accessibility, multilingual support, low-literacy support, disability testing, or safety for vulnerable/caregiver power dynamics.
What happens to patient data?
Patient-controlled and self-hosted by design, with LLM egress caveats
Docs say the developer does not receive health data, iOS sends HealthKit only to the configured server, AI calls require consent, and ModelRun audit records track provider/input mode. If PHI is sent to an external LLM provider, that provider's terms apply.
Are the clinical boundaries clear?
Clear in wording, high-stakes in use
Docs say OwnChart is not medical advice, not a medical device, not emergency triage, and does not tell users to start, stop, or change medication or deliver diagnostic verdicts.
Who defined what good looks like?
Patient-maintainer-defined and source-auditable
The philosophy and security model are unusually explicit and CAIHL-aligned, but no independent security audit, clinical safety evaluation, usability study, accessibility testing, or patient-partnered outcome study was found.
Review method
Deep public-source review of ownchart.me, the public GitHub repository, README, privacy policy, philosophy, security model, risk/legal guide, shipped-vs-roadmap documentation, FHIR connector documentation, license context, HIPAA right-of-access context, FDA software-function context, and SMART on FHIR background; no hands-on install, real-PHI testing, code audit, security audit, or maintainer interview.
Draft profile · Medium-high draft, source-available