The future of medicine in this country is not clear. We are not really sure if in 10 years we will have a system where health care is a marketable good (like it is currently) or a system that considers health care to be a right and something that is guaranteed to everyone. Electronic Health care strengths, and challenges, will be instrumental in whichever system our country adopts.
Given the current number of doctors, number of medical schools, and number of specialists, if our country adopts a more socialist* approach we don't have the resources (by keeping everything the same). Already our hospitals and emergency rooms are awash with the uninsured, taxing our emergency systems, and costing billions of dollars to hospitals and tax payers. We need more doctors if we approach the problem from a supply standpoint. However, like with power conservation, many scholars in the field feel that some of the strain on the system can be alleviated through preventative medicine, better use of records, and standardizing treatment procedures. All of which can be immensely helped by e-health care.
However, as a few people mentioned in their comments, and as I was planning on talking about anyway, many patients have concerns about the transformation, many which are centered around privacy.
We like the idea that our trusted doctor has the only copy of our information safely locked in his office, we have heard the stories of identity theft, hackers, spyware, and other means of electronic crimes. We worry that our information could be obtained and used towards us in a negative manner, perhaps by corporations in marketing, employers, insurance companies, or just criminals.
Who gets control? Healthcare 2.0?
Part of what needs to happen, and what is happening is actually very related to what we have been reading and watching videos about for class. The power of the people! Innovative e-healthcare systems, like Microsofts Health Vault, give control to the individuals on who see's there information, and what information is shared. If you are interested it is kind of a cool website to poke around and see what the future my hold.
One of the main competitors to Microsofts product is, you guessed it, Google Health! Google Health is an interactive website that allows you to compile your health information from your providers, and from yourself, and allows you to send this information to who you choose, it also helps to organize the heath information that is available on the web and to point it users to sources of important information. As far as privacy is concerned the user is completely in charge of who sees the information and google uses no advertisment (yet how they will make money eventually is still a big question, currently it is still a beta program).
In a trial program conducted in Cleveland the patients seemed eager and willing to participate and quickly the 1600 spots were taken up as the New York Times stated the "patients apparently did not shun the Google health records because of qualms that their personal health information might not be secure if held by a large technology company." (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/technology/20google.html?_r=1)
I think that privacy issues are very important, but I also think that it has some stigma attached to it. We are not concerned that our financial information is completely stored online, or that we can obtain credit reports and other information, but certaintly when it was a new concept many people were very concerned with how it would be used and how it would be kept private. As these new sites begin to increase their use I think people will get used to the idea and some of the stigma will be lost and people will trust companies, such as google, to keep their information private ( hopefully the government would TIGHTLY regulate this to ensure full compliance), but I really believe that as with everything technology related, the success and failure is completely dependant on the input of the users and the power that is given to the people. Its our information, we control how its used!
*I write socialist as a descriptor, not as a judgment as I personally am a proponent of health care as a right, and a socialist medical system provides this health care as such.
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