As a teen patient, you have the opportunity to get more involved in your health. That’s why we recommend you create a MyChart account.
Your MyChart account is a secure online portal that lets you send messages to your health care clinician, request and renew prescriptions, see test results, schedule appointments, print vaccination records for sports and school applications, and more. The Johns Hopkins team works hard to protect your privacy if you seek care confidentially. Your parent/guardian will have access to see your medical record, but if you ask that information be confidential, your clinician will do their best to make sure your privacy is protected in MyChart.
How do I sign up for MyChart?
- Request an activation code from your clinician's office.
- Download the MyChart app from Google Play or the App Store, then select Johns Hopkins Medicine from the drop-down menu. A web version is also available here: MyChart - signup page.
- Enter the activation code and complete your account setup.
- Learn more about MyChart’s features.
What can I do with MyChart?
On MyChart, you can:
- Read notes from your medical visits.
- Ask your clinician questions.
- See most of your test results.
- Renew medications.
- Schedule appointments.
- Share your pronouns, chosen name, gender identity and legal sex with your care team.
- Print your vaccination records for after-school clubs, sports leagues and college applications.
What can my parents/guardians do as my proxies?
Parents and legal guardians can:
- Schedule and view most appointments.
- View most notes and other information about visits.
- View most vaccination records.
- Send secure messages to clinicians.
- Pay bills (guarantors only).
Coming soon:
- Parents/legal guardians can view most lab results.
- Parents/legal guardians can view and request refills for most medications.
Teens’ Questions About MyChart
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No. For privacy reasons, you should never allow anyone to log in to your MyChart account. Each patient or proxy must establish their own MyChart account, username and password to ensure that information is associated with the correct account. Your parents/guardian can request a proxy access account to help manage your care. See MyChart Features and Visibility for Parents and Caregivers (Proxies) for more information.
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You can send a private message to your clinician by unselecting your proxy as a recipient. Your message will then be confidential between you and your health care clinician. Your proxy can receive your communications if you choose to keep the checkbox selected by their name when creating the initial message.
Depending on the laws in your area, your health care clinician may be able to keep some of your information confidential even if your parent/guardian asks for it. -
Your parents/guardians will not be able to see your sexual orientation, gender identity, pronouns or chosen name. Only your health care providers and you can see this information in your medical record.
In limited cases, such as after-visit notes from your clinician, your chosen name or pronouns could be used, making them visible to your parents/guardians.
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It is important that you speak with your clinician regarding medications you want to take so that you can understand important information about side effects, possible allergic reactions and more. In many cases, you can send a private message to your clinician or schedule an appointment to talk about your options. Only appointments made by you in the following areas are not automatically visible to your proxy: general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, mental health and Gyn/Ob.
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Using a proxy account, your parents/guardians can see clinicians you are currently seeing, including specialists such as dermatologists and therapists. Only appointments made by you in the following areas are not automatically visible to your proxy: general pediatrics, adolescent medicine, mental health and Gyn/Ob.
If your clinician marks their notes as confidential, your parents/guardians will not be able to view them. But remember that, in general, notes and other visit information will be visible from appointments scheduled by your parents/guardians. -
No, they will not be able to see this information.
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Under Sharing select Proxy Requests.
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Select Request Family Access from the drop-down menu.
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Click on Adult.
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Complete the form and upload necessary documentation.
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You can designate the amount of information your parents/guardians can see. Your options include:
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Full Access, which allows your parents/guardians to use all MyChart features including the ability to send messages to your doctors, view immunization records and laboratory results, schedule appointments and pay bills.
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Scheduling Only, which only allows your parents/guardians to view and schedule your appointments
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Questions About Parent/Guardian Access (Proxy Access)
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If your parents have access to your account through your account’s username and password, you can change your password by logging into MyChart, using the top menu to select the Account Settings section and then select Security Settings.
We always encourage patients to be open and honest with their parents/guardians and to talk about their health. It is up to you how much information to verbally share from your medical record. If your parents/guardians want access electronically, they can request proxy access outlined here. -
- If you are age 13 to 17, your parents/guardians can request proxy access to your account. They will have limited access to your information, meaning your parent/guardian cannot see all of the information that you can see in your MyChart account. It does, however, allow your parent/guardian to pay your medical bills, send a message to your clinician, view some of your vaccination records and see some notes regarding visits. Notes will not be available to them for visits you scheduled yourself in the following sensitive areas: primary care, mental health or substance abuse, Gyn/Ob and emergency medicine.
- If you are age 18 or older, you can give your parent/guardian access your account. You can also decide whether your parent/guardian will receive scheduling-only access or full access to your medical record. Full access means your parent/guardian can see everything that you can see.
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No. When you become 18 years old, your entire medical record is protected by law. Your parents/guardians will lose their proxy access account, and you will have the option to grant them permission to have full access to your MyChart account as outlined in Adult Patient Authorizing Access to Their Own MyChart Account (age 18-plus). You can choose to give your parents/guardians no access, scheduling-only access or full access to your medical record when you turn 18.
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- Until you are age 18, your parents/guardians have the right to access some information in your MyChart account, and therefore, you cannot revoke parent/guardian access.
- When you become 18 years old, proxy access for your parents/guardians automatically terminates, and you can choose whether to authorize your parent/legal guardian to have access to your MyChart account. See Adult Patient Authorizing Access to Their Own MyChart Account (age 18-plus) for more information.
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No, proxy access cannot be granted in cases of temporary custody. In cases of guardianship (which is different than foster parents’ status), documentation demonstrating the length and scope of guardianship must be submitted.
Questions About Teen Health Privacy
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While we encourage all of our minor patients to discuss their health care conditions with their parents/guardians, in all locations in which Johns Hopkins Medicine operates, teens are given the right to consent to some medical treatment without involvement of their parents/guardians. When teens consent to medical treatment on their own, in most situations, they have the right under state law to control who can access the information, and they can keep the information confidential from their parents/guardians.
Also, if a clinician believes, in their professional judgment, that disclosure of information to the parent/guardian may cause substantial harm, laws permit the clinician to withhold that information from the parent/guardian. As a result of these laws and technical limitations, some information in MyChart cannot be viewed by a teen’s parent/guardian proxy.
These laws vary from state to state, but in some states, they apply to:
- Physical examination and treatment related to a sexual assault
- Consultation, diagnosis and treatment for mental or emotional disorders
- Treatment for substance use disorder
- HIV testing and treatment
- Treatment or advice about sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
- Pregnancy-related care
- Family planning and contraception
- Emergency room care
- Blood donation
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Teens may fear a parent’s/guardian’s reaction, and they may not be honest with their doctors and may be discouraged from seeking very important care. These laws protect teens’ privacy to encourage them to obtain necessary care. When appropriate, we encourage teens to talk with their parents/guardians about important topics.
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While we do our best to honor teens’ confidentiality rights, there are circumstances in which our clinicians are obligated by law to report issues to parents/guardians or officials. For example, reporting to officials is mandated when abuse or neglect is suspected.
Also, if a teen uses their parents’/guardians’ health insurance to pay for a visit, the parent/guardian may receive information from the health insurance company that discloses the reason for the visit.” -
Due to technical limitations and variation in laws in states where Johns Hopkins operates, some information might be unavailable to parents/guardians in MyChart that they otherwise have a right to access. A parent/guardian can ask for medical records from the Johns Hopkins Health Information Management department at the facility where the teen was treated. The parent/guardian will receive a copy of their child’s medical records except records about treatment for which the patient consented on their own and when state or federal law requires that the records be confidential without consent from the patient, or when the clinician believes disclosure of the information may result in substantial harm to the teen.