Health IT

Over at Discovery Blog, Bruce Chapman discusses the Obama administration’s great interest in digitizing health records even though the technological and legal infrastructure isn’t in place to protect patient privacy. There appear to be new technologies to prevent such problems and at reasonable cost, but the overall problem of vulnerable computer security–on medical records or national security–is not a minor threat for the country as a whole or for our citizens as individuals. It won’t solve itself. It needs high priority notice by government and businesses alike. If people have to fear: Their doctor may discover a chronic condition, some unfortunate piece of family health history or a youthful indiscretion The information is added to their digitized record The digitized Read More ›

According to one report, networking and communications are finally coming to the health care industry. IT security will eventually meet the expectations of the health-care industry, just as has happened in other sectors, like banking. And when it does, powerful IT networks crisscrossing the globe will change the way much of health care is delivered: Outsourcing and offshoring of medical and nonmedical services will increase, providing more efficient health care at the most cost-effective rates; systems integrations will allow more medical records to be transferred swiftly and securely; efforts to monitor the safety of medicines will gain global access to data; and professionals and patients will find authoritative and up-to-date information on every specialty online. See: “Prescription for Change,” by Read More ›