Obama Wants to Digitalize My Health Records? I Say Umm I’m Not So Sure Yet

By Andy Alt / Political Dimensions

January 18, 2009

Susan was quoted in the article Obama Wants to Digitalize My Health Records? I Say Go For It! by Merely Me (Fri January 16, 2009) and she asked me to make some of my words about it. I’ve therefore created some based solely on the alphabet, and my monotonous words follow this boring preface.

Having a record of what groceries I buy or if I smoke is quite a bit different than my medical history. I smoke in public, and when I buy groceries in public there are usually people nearby (who I never force to sign confidentiality forms when they see me pulling an item from the shelf), and strange, unknown cashiers ring up my purchases.

As for security: how secure is anything on the Internet? What people post on facebook, myspace, or online journals is obviously intended for public viewing (albeit it might be regretted later). Hackers have an uncanny ability to get “private” data, and keep pace with the latest “progress.” The good guys are usually one step ahead of the bad guys, but only after the bad guys have exploited a vulnerability. A common example would be software patches released by Microsoft. Those patches are released not because Microsoft has been testing their software and found vulnerabilities, but because those vulnerabilities have been taken advantage of by malicious entities. Any information on the Internet is potentially available to anyone in the world with an Internet connection (even those who still have to suffer from dial-up syndrome).

It’s well-known now that employers will Google prospective employees. Instead of finding embarrassing pictures or weblog entries, some employers I’m sure would love to get a hold of a person’s full mental health and medical history. Oh, I’m sorry, do you think that couldn’t happen? You don’t think there would be a “black market” or even a “white market” where that information could be obtained? My apologies for wasting your time then, dear readers. Please feel free to have a nice cup of tea and bury your head in the sand.

Regarding the issue of efficiency and helping prevent medical mistakes: I’d have to say if it really worked out that way, it would be a wonderful, glorious, magical way for health professionals to improve care and save lives. Unfortunately it’s not reality. It’s apparent that doctors often don’t review information already within their possession! For instance, recently I switched doctors and went through the hassle of having my medical records transferred from one hospital to my new doctor. I went to see him a second time, after my records had been transferred, and he hadn’t even yet looked at them! I was telling him about my acid reflux and an endoscopy I had done that discovered three ulcers. Only after I asked him if he’d looked at my records yet did he start looking while I was talking about it.

Obviously a doctor having information at their fingertips is not the problem. How efficient was I to have my medical records transferred? I thought it was a good idea at the time, that it would improve efficiency and smooth the transition to a new doctor. And don’t anyone tell me it was an isolated incident, because I wouldn’t believe them. This was no back-woods country doctor with which I was dealing. And I only gave one example although I could cite several more.

There’s an ample amount of things that can be done before deciding to place all of one’s medical records online, they’re simply not being done. And doctors apparently don’t have time or are too lazy to review patient data already in their possession.

Here’s something ridiculously simple to prevent mistakes: Quality Assurance. When I worked in a production/manufacturing environment, a second pair of eyes would check quality, thereby preventing many mistakes. The best and most quality-conscious production worker can make a mistake, but having a second pair of eyes frequently prevented human error. Sometimes the problem was obvious yet still overlooked, and sometimes not so obvious. A different perspective and a second set of eyes can often find things another person would miss.

I wouldn’t mind at all having two doctors in the examination room with me instead of one. And although I know that’s not realistic because of the shortage of doctors, it’s a solution that would truly prevent more mistakes than digitalizing everyone’s medical history. The problems isn’t lack of information, but human error, so let’s look at other work environments where human error has to be addressed and see if we can learn anything about preventing mistakes. Not this smoke and mirrors business that wouldn’t accomplish much of anything. Let’s talk about real progress and innovation, and engage human creativity to solve our problems, and have an honest discussion about why mistakes are being made.