Medical history

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I had to take my older brother to the hospital tonight, he was driving by, and was feeling light headed. He said that he had fallen earlier in the day, went to the hospital, they did a CAT scan and he was now feeling worse. He thought he was having another stroke, had one 5 years before, but luckily, he was just dehydrated. The local EM wanted his complete medical history, and I know very little about it, which brings me to question. How is it that I can walk into a car dealer and they can run a complete financial history on me, give me a credit score to get approved for a loan, in a matter of minutes. But we do not have a system set up to do the same thing for our medical history. I give them my name, SS number, address and a hospital or clinic logs into the system, they see a current photo off my license or passport, with all the relative information, and medical history, meds I am on and so forth.

We can send a man to moon 50 years ago, but we cannot get this figured out?

 

[BCClone]

This thing called HIPPA. It blows for the most part.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

This thing called HIPPA. It blows for the most part.

I get HIPPA, but this would be for hospitals and clinics only, they are not releasing any information, only for their own use to speed up the process, of trying to figure out just what meds you are taking and your medical history.

 

[matclone]

Behind HIPAA is the idea of privacy. We don't want our medical information to be a public record.

 

[BCClone]

I get HIPPA, but this would be for hospitals and clinics only, they are not releasing any information, only for their own use to speed up the process, of trying to figure out just what meds you are taking and your medical history.

Within the same system they can but they can’t share with other sources without approval which usually includes ambulances.

 

[Mr Janny]

Iowa has a sharing network, but it's relatively new. Think about it this way, it hasn't been that many years that records were required to be digital. That's something you can thank HIPAA for. We'll get there eventually, but we're not there yet.

 

[Pat]

It would be a lot easier if you had a VIN, for starters.

 

[Rabbuk]

I'd guess they can easily pull up your info if you've been there before. But most of your medical history is based on predictive qualities of other peoples medical data.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

Behind HIPAA is the idea of privacy. We don't want our medical information to be a public record.

No one is saying it should be a public record. But explain to me how they can log into a system that would show my medical history from one Iowa hospital to another. Or for that matter, any hospital or clinic in the country.
This is not information that would be given out to anyone but used at the hospital. I get into a car wreck, they have my license, scan it into the system and all my vital information comes up so they can treat me.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I'd guess they can easily pull up your info if you've been there before. But most of your medical history is based on predictive qualities of other peoples medical data.

But isn't that the problem? We are sometimes forced to go to different hospitals or clinics, why are they not allowed to access our medical history immediately through a centralized system.

 

[Rabbuk]

But isn't that the problem? We are sometimes forced to go to different hospitals or clinics, why are they not allowed to access our medical history immediately through a centralized system.

because it's other peoples medical history who haven't waived their privacy right.

 

[Mr Janny]

No one is saying it should be a public record. But explain to me how they can log into a system that would show my medical history from one Iowa hospital to another. Or for that matter, any hospital or clinic in the country.
This is not information that would be given out to anyone but used at the hospital. I get into a car wreck, they have my license, scan it into the system and all my vital information comes up so they can treat me.

https://www.ihin.org/

Here's the issue, though. Participation is not required, so your family doctor may not be a part of it. Additionally, medical facilities use different record software. There are a couple of big players in the market. Epic and Cerner are close to Iowa, but they certainly aren't the only ones, so compatibility is an issue, and it means that nothing is automatic. Organizations have to dedicate resources to submit data, so that increases overhead, and prices. And lastly, medical data is highly sought after by hackers. Medical facilities are targets. Great care needs to be taken to ensure data security. These are all obstacles that slow things down, but the sharing network is making progress. What you are talking about will become reality. It just might take a bit.

 

[BCClone]

Maybe give everyone a barcode tattoo. That way if you are knocked out, they can scan you and get you help. Probably place it on your rear or people would be stealing info with visible barcodes.

 

[MeanDean]

It would be a lot easier if you had a VIN, for starters.

Basically SS# = VIN

 

[BCClone]

Basically SS# = VIN

Mecical companies seem to be going away from using SSN for these type of things with all the identity theft. I know my mom's medicare number is not her social anymore.

 

[DuneFan]

Maybe have a standardized way that people could carry their medical history with them on a flash drive attached to a key chain. The files would be in a standardized format, maybe PDF, and when you visit a hospital or clinic the doctor would be allowed to read but not copy the history files, except if you give him or her express permission to copy the files if a certain situation requires it.

 

[SEIOWA CLONE]

I was the OP for this topic, and after reading all the reasons why isn't done, fear of hacking, privacy issues, costs, different software, participation by hospitals and clinics.

How can banks and car dealerships get my just as valuable finance information in a matter of minutes? That information is less important than my medical information? I think not.

Maybe this is just another way that hospitals can increase costs, running tests like on my brother, in his case a CAT scan that was also run earlier in the day.
Even down here in our small county hospital all your health information is done on a lap top, then linked into a central system, then how hard would it be to upload that information into a state or national informational bank?

I am starting to think its just another way for a clinic or hospital to pad their bill with unneeded tests and procedures.

 

[ArgentCy]

It would be a lot easier if you had a VIN, for starters.

We do, it has slightly different letters, SSN. Dang, MeanDean beat me to it.

 

[ArgentCy]

The doctor doesn't need to know everything about his history. If you can't diagnose an acute problem without it then you just aren't very good at your job. Just looking for something to stick their noses in half the time.

 

[SCNCY]

Iowa has a sharing network, but it's relatively new. Think about it this way, it hasn't been that many years that records were required to be digital. That's something you can thank HIPAA for. We'll get there eventually, but we're not there yet.

The bolded is the right answer. I worked for a major healthcare software technology company in Kansas City for a couple of years (you can guess who they are). In 2014, I went on an implementation for a week in Louisville to convert a healthcare system with several hospital locations from paper records to electronic records in 2014.... This was an implementation of the companies software that required several 100s of people a week for six weeks I think. So it was no small healthcare system.

For some reason, the healthcare industry has been a slow adopter of using computers. It wasn't until the HITECH act was signed in 2009 when the healthcare system was forced to move to electronic records and more interoperability with computers. The people running healthcare systems are very stubborn and unwilling to change their ways based on what I have seen and heard. When I was in Lousiville, there was a nurse on the floor I was assigned to that told me she never wanted to use a computer, will never have one at home, computers can go to hell, and that she was going to find a job at another facility that did not use computers. Which will work until that new facility she works at migrates to the use of electronic records.

Another thing regarding health records is that some of the major healthcare industries have been accused of holding patient data hostage. The competitor of the company I worked for was often accused of this, unwilling to share data on their system to others using another companies software. There was a debate in the industry of who owned the data, was it the patient, the healthcare clinic/hospital, of the software company in which the data sits at? As a result, it makes it really hard for a patient to get their medical records.