Will your medical records be "public"??

[Miss Silvera]

http://www.aapsonline.org/index.php/article/electronic_medical_records_in_the_age_of_wikileaks/

[Nosmo]

Unfortunately, this is the wave of the future washing down upon us.  Us older folks think this is an invasion of privacy and are generally against it.  Younger people who grew up with computers think that unlimited data acquisition is a good thing (it isn't).  "They" want more and more info, and any info that is stored in a computer can be accessed, hacked, etc.  Your med records are NOT safe, and decisions WILL be made that affect you based upon that data, in spite of what "they" say.  Employment opportunities or restrictions, insurance actuaries will study it for rate and coverage adjustments, etc.  On the other hand, I can visit my Primary Care doctor, and he can immediately view on his laptop a video of a CAT scan I had several years ago, which can make diagnosis much easier.  As always, it isn't the data itself that is bad, it is the misguided uses to which it will be put.

[cmoore]

Everything will eventually be stored on some kind of memory somewhere. Paper is going to go away. It is going to take time though. We are addicted to files and paper. The insurance company I used to work for has talked about goung paperless for years but has yet to get there.

[Cholla]

When computers started to be widely used it was touted paper records would become obsolete.
Instead we took information from a single piece of paper, entered it into a computer and then sent that info to multiple computers and printers to be printed onto 4 part paper!electronic files cand be falsely manipulated while a hard copy cannot.
Our records can't be divulged, we have HIIPA!

[Miss Silvera]

Our records can't be divulged, we have HIIPA!

I KNOW you were LAUGHING when you wrote that!!!! 

 HIIPA  means

Have Individuals Information Passed Around

[Cholla]

I KNOW you were LAUGHING when you wrote that!!!! 

 HIIPA  means

Have Individuals Information Passed Around

Yes, I was, but now I'm laughing even harder!
 We have skidloads of HIIPA forms in our warehouse at work....but we also use the customers' names for marketing purposes....but the names don't come from the HIIPA forms!

[Strawboss]

I always chuckle when we bring someone into the ED and transfer them over to a hospital bed with only a curtain separating patients and the receiveing RN asks that person basically their life story for all to hear 2 feet away, then a registration person comes in and it happens again, EVERYTHING, SS#'s, birthdate, address, phone #'s, emergency contacts, family phone#'s, and most always with older patients, everyone talks really LOUD so even the waiting room can hear. I understand its intent, but its morphed into a Frankenstein and many people who should understand it as part of their job, simply do not understand what they can and cannot do under that particular law.

[Miss Silvera]

"Medical students are taught to ask whether there is a gun in the house, ostensibly to use this as a way to remind parents to keep them out of the reach of children. But now this will be part of the medical record that goes online, and hackers might be able to use this information to target certain families. The possibilities are endless. Information is power-- the power to do good but also the power to destroy."




Yeah the part I hate that is already happening is that your doctor is gonna ask you in person or on a from, "Is there a firearm in your house"....I've seen this on a medical questionaire when I went to a hearing specialist about 1 1/2 years ago..   it had a "yes" "no" check boxes.  I wrote in,

"no firearms but I do keep live rattlesnakes in a box, unless they get out"


I'm still waiting for my insurance carrier to cancel my policy 

[Cholla]

Since you were at a hearing specialist you should have written, "Huh?".

[Miss Silvera]

 

that was good

[YoDoc]

Slightly off-topic,

My wife gets some sort of parenting advice magazine, and one of the articles was "How to ask if there is a gun in the house when your child goes to play at someone else's home"

It suggested that the best way is to simply ask. "Yep, I ask this off all the parents of Little Johnny's friends. Do you keep a gun in the house, and if so, is the gun kept locked and unloaded, with the ammunition separate?"

We both had a good little laugh at the thought of someone asking that and my response being "Don't worry, Little Johnny can't get to my gun, because it's on my hip."