E-health records

About everybody feels it’s a good idea to convert paper medical records to electronic ones. Should be more efficient and, hopefully, accurate. The problem is it’s hell getting there. This article covers most of the problems.

One problem is cost; the cost of systems and labor to convert records is prohibitive for small practices.
One solution to this is to have the patient create and maintain their basic record. The Medem iHealth Record.  Another problem is lack of standards; if the big companies don’t follow open standards for records it’ll be a Tower of Babel. The feds are the only ones who can twist arms enough to get companies to adopt compatible data types. Finally there’s privacy. Who do you trust to keep the records private and secure.