Connected Health Care Rules! : My Daily Peace

Connected Health Care Rules!

Posted on October 4, 2007 - Filed Under Health, Techie |

Anyone that has ever had the experience of switching health insurance every time you get a new job, knows that you usually have to change doctors too. I have had a few gigs as a contract worker, and each one came with different health insurance, which meant I often had to change my doctors. I’ve been pretty good about getting a yearly physical and blood work done, so when one doctor is monitoring something specific, and then you have to get a new doctor that takes your new insurance, your medical information gets lost along the way. Simply tell the new doctor what your last doctor had said about your health, you say? Have you actually ever been able to tell a doctor what you need them to do or think based on another’s doctor diagnosis? Well, I haven’t successfully accomplished that, so if you have any tips, let me know. Not too mention, one doctor’s diagnosis may not be correct. I haven’t even been able to get a mechanic to do that now that I think of it.

So what’s the solution? Connected health care in the form of HealthVault. The New York Times reported today that Microsoft has created the technology infrastructure to collect, store, and share your health information with doctors through the Internet. This allows patients to “digitize the doctor’s office clipboard.” You have a right to have access to your health records and many doctors recognize this. You can manually enter or fax your paper records directly into your HealthVault account, so other doctors you visit can have access to medications you’re on and previous visits to other doctors, in an effort to provide you with better medical care.

Say your gynecologist has already prescribed you a birth control pill that you have been taking your years, and now you go to an orthopedic doctor for a problem you’ve been having with your joints. The orthopedist wants to prescribe you with an anti-inflammatory to reduce your joint pain, but upon checking your HealthVault, she realizes that you can’t take NSAIDs with the particular pill you are already taking, which is what she wanted to prescribe. Not only is the doctor able to prescribe you something that will work better, but it could have saved your life.

I have been waiting for the time that all of these technological advances are going to help us be healthier, and I think this is a step in the right direction.