Are electronic medical records a good idea?
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Are electronic medical records a good idea?
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I think it definitely increases efficiency, but the risks are going to be far greater. In one split-second, all your information can be gone, and that's scary. It's harder to get rid of hard-copies, but with the Internet, all it takes is a second.
No. I want to have my own medical records. I don't want insurance companies gaining access to them. I don't want them accessible via computer. Keep it old school and inefficient. I'll pay the extra price for the privacy.
Yea, but what happens when there is a flood or something and all your files are destroyed. What would you do then?
Then nature has REALLY secured my privacy.
Screw the internet, I want hard copies.
Almost happened to me once. If it's on a computer, it can be transmitted to a server and stuff. Also, with the Internet, it is a lot easier for radiologists to transfer the images and stuff like that.
Having your medical records on file electronically does not necessarily mean that they can be transmitted via the internet. Ever hear of flash drives? A flash drive can hold up to four or more gigabytes of information – and that is more information than you could ever acumilate over your lifetime in a medical sense. Plus copies could be made much more economically and much easier than making a hard copy of all your files so if you wanted to change doctors it would be much simpler.
Just my not-so-humble opinion.
Electronic medical records are actually a much more efficient way of documenting patient history. As papadawg said, they would allow for ease of exchange amongst doctors and actually eliminate some of the confusion that results from reading the less-than-perfect handwriting or documentation of other physicians.
I see that, but what about the security of the online records?
That is where it goes south for me.
Great answer!
I believe the reason for electronic records is to share the information easily with other medical facilities and that would therefore include online records. I personally would not like to have my records so easily transported to other agencies and possibly controlled by the federal government!
What about the security of online banking?
I understand your point, Sal. I just believe that the potential utilization of electronic medical records has pros that outweigh its cons. I do firmly believe that its establishment will improve the quality of healthcare.
Memoral Sloan-Kettering utilizes such an online, electronic medical system, and so far, the results have been positive.
It's more efficient that way.
Sal,
If you are concerned with people hacking into the system, then I understand your concern. However, when you are dealing with a very large system, like government-run systems, then they don't play around. They completely control the Internet and security is so uptight that it's almost impossible to hack into.