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#96769 - 04/28/08 08:05 AM
How Personal Health Records Could Make Care Less
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Nae
Administrator
Registered: 07/16/98
Posts: 6464
Loc: Sanford, Fl, USA
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Efficient ...
How personal health records can make health care less efficient
High hopes are afoot for personal health records, online homes where patients can store their medical information to take from doctor to doctor and keep track of things like prescriptions and test results. Microsoft and Google, among others, are jumping in the patient-controlled record pool.
But on a visit to Health Blog HQ yesterday, Steve Leiber — who runs Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, the trade group for health IT — pointed out a potential downside to the patient-centric records.
“Physicians aren’t going to trust it,” he said.
That could be trouble if patients opt for the personal records and try (because of privacy concerns, say) to keep their medical information off of a doctor or hospital’s electronic medical record.
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#96770 - 04/28/08 08:17 AM
Re: How Personal Health Records Could Make Care Less
[Re: Nae]
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 6975
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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The only people who stand to gain from "personal health records" are those hosting them and those who will be free to datamine them at will once the information is in personal rather than HIPAA-protected records.
They are really a solution looking for a problem. The argument about having info available in an emergency is a total crock. If you are out cold, you aren't going to be able to provide access to your personal records. If you are conscious and coherent, you need only supply the name of your physicians and/or institutions where you were previously treated for the ER to get the information it needs from those who actually understand that information. If you have a serious condition that an emergency responder needs to know about instantaneously, you need to be wearing a Medic-Alert bracelet. A personal health record of dubious completeness and accuracy off on a server somewhere isn't going to do a damn thing for you in a medical crisis.
I don't trust Microsoft with my computer or Google with my e-mail--why the h*ll would I turn my health care over to them?
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#96775 - 04/28/08 10:03 AM
Re: How Personal Health Records Could Make Care Less
[Re: 14tonks]
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Glory1863
Member
Registered: 03/27/08
Posts: 366
Loc: Beyond Antares
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Even when you provide copies of records from a hospital stay or your doctor's office, they don't believe them. They don't use that lab. They don't know that radiologist. The CD with your mammogram, or CT scan or MRI won't open on their machine. So of course you get all the tests again anyway so they can bill for them. Not their problem if your insurance won't pay because they just paid somebody else for the same thing. You're responsible for your bill. Don't you just love it?
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#96778 - 04/28/08 10:37 AM
Re: How Personal Health Records Could Make Care Less
[Re: Glory1863]
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14tonks
Member
Registered: 10/25/01
Posts: 6975
Loc: Only 3rd world country in US
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As far as personal health records are concerned, if I were a physician subject to malpractice suits for adverse outcomes, there is no way in h*ll I would accept someone's personal collection of medical information in lieu of official records from their physicians.
Lab results and x-ray readings are a more gray area. I've certainly seen problems with differences between lab normals and with labs that just plain don't do good work, but I would not get lab results repeated unless the new doctor was willing to justify the need to my insurance company in advance. The same is true for x-ray readings. There is absolutely no reason to agree to repeat x-rays, CTs or MRIs. If they are not sure how accurately the radiologist read the x-ray, you can request copies for them to read themselves. If there is a technical problem that causes them to feel you need a new study, that information can be provided to the insurance company--if it was a technically inadequate study, then the insurance company will cover a second study. CT or MRI won't open on their computer? They need to call the office that did the original study and request the files be sent over the internet or otherwise provided in a usable format. Sure, that's more work and hassle for the doctor's offices concerned than just repeating the study, but no way should you be left with a big bill to pay out of pocket because the docs are digitally incompetent.
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