Politicians, Big Business, and Medical Records

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about storing our medical records in some electronic cloud, to be accessed by anyone who needs them, whenever they need to.  I’ve also heard a great hue and cry that it can’t be done or it can’t be done economically.  Personally, I think it’s eminently doable and doable at a reasonable cost.


Think Facebook.

What Facebook allows you and me to do is set up a personalized website that contains all manner of data, pictures, stories, links, etc, that we can access from virtually anywhere.  It also allows us to dictate who can see all that stuff.  And it does it for free.  So far.

Now, if I were to upload x-ray images, EKG readouts, CT scan data, doctor’s reports, test results, etc, etc, instead of just pictures and stories, I could have my entire medical history available from anyplace I can logon to a computer.  And with a few minor tweaks Facebook could be trained to accept a pin number or retinal scan, allowing me to authorize access to that data by any new ‘Friend’, i.e. my doctor or hospital or EMS team.  Think about it.

For example: I could go into my doctor’s office, have my insurance card scanned, enter my PIN, and voila, the doc could have permanent or temporary access to my entire medical history, or only to specific portions of it.  (Your dentist may not need access to your OBGYN data.)  When my visit is over, I could disallow or allow continued access to my data until access is no longer required, just like logging off a Facebook session.  Simple, what?

Technologically, Facebook does a masterful job collecting, organizing, and storing all the data we can throw at it.  From millions of folks around the world.  So why not a similar system for medical data.  Of course it would have to run on a VPN (Virtual Private Network) instead of the hackable Internet, but that’s no biggie, brokerage houses and banks do that all the time.

Why aren’t we doing it, you ask?

I think the real pushback is from people and organizations who want the data organized their way and who may also want unobstructed access so they can refuse to hire you, raise your insurance premiums, or own your data.  Therefore, our politicians would have to buy into the notion and then actually go to bat for us, to protect our privacy.  That’s the part I don’t see happening.  Too many politicians are just shills for big business; we must first learn how to elect politicians that represent us.  Full stop.

So, how would it work?

Your doctor, for example, would only need a workstation and a subscription to the VPN.  No fancy software, no tons of storage, and probably no training.  (Who trained you to use Facebook?)  A scanner could be used initially to capture existing paper documents and, as networkable devices become available, things like EKG units could be logically connected to the workstation so your doc could view the data and/or include it in your file.  A file that would reside on some secure server farm.  This approach actually fits, to a Tee, the KISS requirement for good technology solutions.  (KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid.)  And Mr. Zuckerberg could probably set up a demo over a weekend.

If ads germane to your doctor or hospital appeared at the edge of your ‘Page’, the system might actually pay for itself.  But, I would draw the line at the system parsing your data and recommending new ‘Friends’ (Specialists, undertakers, etc.).  That would be too creepy and an invasion of privacy.  It would also make the system ripe for take over by drug companies.

How do we start?  By electing ethical, non business-shill representatives.  If any exist.