Comments on: Prolegomena to Prononymity: What’s the Worst that Can Happen?

By: davboz

davboz — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:44:22 +0000

The worst that could happen?

Kiddin’?

Uh, hello! That we have no privacy re: our health records and the “system” can hold it against us all our life. MY history is at MY discretion to be revealed when, and to whom, I choose!

By: Dan Culley

Dan Culley — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:33:39 +0000

What basis do you have for asserting that the wariness of consumers is holding back electronic medical records? That might be what people say, but have you ever known anyone who refused to go to a doctor who keeps records electronically? Or who even asked? I don’t.

There are no federal regulations preventing health-care providers from storing information electronically, which would require people to vote on it, and so have a chance to express their abstract view. (HIPAA, despite popular reports, was passed to permit keeping these records electronically and the HIPAA electronic security regulation imposes only standard network security.)

By: A.W.

A.W. — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:11:09 +0000

I can say as a lawyer who works in the medical profession, for the love of God, don’t encourage this. Have you ever read the HIPAA regulations? I don’t know which was more depressing, when I saw that they were entitled “administrative simplication regulations” or when it occurred to me, that this tax-code-like morass might have actually been a simpler version of what came before.

Anyway, i am always skeptical when the government tries to explain that we in the private sector need something that we in the private sector didn’t realize we needed and, funny, didn’t impliment ourselves. Sorry, would you care to tell us what you know that those of us who look at the bottom line do not?

And believe you me, the shift to electronic medical records is not being held back by privacy concerns. it is economic concerns, as in no one sees why it is supposed to be so efficient. At least that is the case in my home health care company.

The only thing being arguably held back by privacy concerns is web-based storage of such records, as well it should. there is no such thing as an unhackable anything.