The good and bad of e-health records
Posted on Feb 11, 2009 by
Paul WhiteToday when you go into a doctor's office all your information is stored on paper. So if by chance the hospital was to catch on fire your medical history would go up in flames. The overall cost of keeping patient's records on paper is very high. We could save entire forests from being turned into paper if we force the medical system to go about its
business via Computers.
Computers have already made the world more efficient. They allow us to store billions of records, and communicate them between clients with almost no cost. Computerizing the Medical World will reduce the operating costs of hospitals, and streamline operations, and help provide better patient care.
The good.
Reduced costs
Since medical records will be stored on a national database, Hospitals will no longer have to maintain their own paper based records.
Improved patient care
Since a patient's entire medical history will be stored on a database, This will remove the possibility of some medical mistakes, that often result in death, or poor treatment.
Transparency within the system
Insurance and healthcare companies will most likely have access to this database, meaning people would not be able to hide pre existing conditions. People who are smokers, or have drug addictions would pay premiums. It would be much harder to hide unhealthy lifestyles.
Lower cost of drugs
Since drug companies could also tap into the database to find how many patients hav a given condition, they would save money from not having to conduct their own surveys and research. This would help companies make drugs to treat conditions that are in demand.
Data Analysis towards cures
Having everyone's medical history and conditions also gives researchers the ability to analize a large population, for genetic trends. This could lead to quicker turn around for the development of genetically based drugs.
Stop people from abusing the system
If the system also keeps track of a person's billing history, this could help prevent other hospitals from providing treatment to those who owe money to many other hospitals. Forcing people to be responsible for themselves and stop living off the system.
Crack down on Illegal Aliens
Since the system would most likely be attached to our SS number. This would help to better track the number of illegal aliens that are getting medical care while not paying for it.
The Bad
Discrimination by Insurance Companies
What helps insurance companies provide better coverage also enables them to no cover individuals that they feel are high risk. This is one of the biggest fears of privacy advocates. Even though healthy people think this would be great. The majority of the US population is not healthy, and this would result in high premiums for most americans.
Your medical conditions sold to advertising companies.
How would you like it if you went to the doctors office and they told you, you have Chronic Dry eye. Then you get home turn on the TV, and now your television feeds you nothing but advertisements for Chronic Dry Eye treatments. The amount of unsolicited
marketing that targets your current conditions and lifestyle would be unprecendented.
Summary.
Even though I believe there are some risks. Overall computerizing the Medical world will create lots of technology jobs, plus reduce costs for all Americans.
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