My husband works in IT security, so it was with great interest that I read the article about the medical records' being breached at Stanford University's hospital in Palo Alto, CA.
A lot of people are afraid of electronic medical records because of possible security breaches. They don't have to happen. The principles of security that financial institutions can be applied to health care. I know that for a fact because my husband did that at Aetna.
Recently, I had to go to two hospitals to get health care records for my mother's condition. I didn't actually get them. I drove her by car to the hospitals, then put her in a wheelchair and rolled her into the Medical Records Departments, where she had to show a picture ID and sign a document that she was receiving the records. How bad is that? She needed them in order to get a quick appointment with a specialist who required it for his review. (The alternative was to wait six weeks for an appointment when she was already in agony because four other doctors misdiagnosed her and could not treat her effectively.)
One of the promises Barack Obama failed on was going digital with EMR. This would have helped both health care providers and patients get quick access to health histories and it would have created jobs.
What happens if there is a security breach? The health care provider would most likely have to go the route of financial institutions that choose not to employ people like my husband. Those institutions, aware of the problem of identity theft, end up offering "free" credit monitoring for customers for one year. It's not free for the institutions. It's like a health insurer refusing to pay for a flu vaccine, but will pay for the hospitalization of flu patient. What was it they said about an ounce of prevention?
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Every healthcare provider should switch to an EMR solution. Paper based records and prescriptions are a thing of the past now and it would be best for both doctors and patients to take advantage of their features and accessibility.
ReplyDeleteMedical Billing I Free EMR
As much as three quarters of hospital staff are usually burdened with some sort of billing-related work in a traditional billing system. Opting for electronic medical billing solutions (ones that come with free EMR plans) that fit easily into the healthcare business' workflow are key to freeing up staff resources.
ReplyDeleteMedical Billing Services