There has been, in effect, a summit conference which has arrived at a framework to guide patient privacy as individuals se up electronic personal health records. If the agreement becomes a reality, this shall be a victory for patients, for caregivers and for everybody who has a stake in safer, quality health care.
Electronic medical records always have been an excellent idea—-making it possible for any caregiver to see a patient’s whole record to prevent medication errors or other avoidable treatment problems. This is an effort requiring the federal government to build a common spine for such a system and doctors to convert from paper to electronic records. Doctors have been extremely slow to convert, because of cost and time investments.
