Via Wired, a good overview of digital medical record keeping, from both the physician’s side as well as new tools for the patient. The online service is iHealthRecord:
Connie Grimstad doesn’t need to call her doctor’s office when she has a question about the slew of medications she takes daily — the 57-year-old homemaker simply delves into her medical records from her home computer. As the medical industry moves slowly to replace its paper files with electronic versions, people like Grimstad are light years ahead of most doctors.
She’s among about 10,000 Americans who’ve made the leap with a free online service that permits anyone to create their own electronic personal health record — and access it anywhere through the Internet. With a few keystrokes, everything’s there: the details of her prescriptions, health insurance records, diagnoses and surgeries.
Granted, it’s far easier for consumers to go digital than it is for physicians, given the technology overhauls often involved. It took Grimstad an hour to type her medical history into her iHealthRecord account with San Francisco company Medem.
This system affords patients some peace of mind when traveling or seeing new doctors. But the real solution will come when physicians adopt similar systems.
More at Medem…