Tim Berners-Lee changed the world, recently. He is credited by Time Magazine and others as the inventer of the World Wide Web. His vision and passion are evident in the TED presentation shown below. His vision is not limited to an innovative way for electronic devices to be connected. His vision extends to the connectivity of minds and the many possible transformations of the world. It often takes years for the knowledge produced by medical research to become applied in actual patient care. We are a society obsessed with the possession, protection and ownership of data, information and knowledge. It is a rare person who puts contribution before self enrichment. The coming revolutions in healthcare will largely be based upon the values of people like Tim Berners-Lee.
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Internet. Show all posts
Monday, September 5, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Doctors begin to embrace the Web
This news story appearing on the Kaiser Health News site makes the case that it is convenient for patients to be able to view their physicians' schedules and make appointments online.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/January/03/zocdoc.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+khn+%28All+Kaiser+Health+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Physicians can make this service available to patients through a vender called ZocDoc at a cost of about $250 per month. Nearly 85 percent of appointments made on ZocDoc are made by new patients. The service provides patient reviews of physicians on their site.
The day will probably come when physicians make themselves available to communicate with patients by e-mail in appropriate situations. This is more feasible under some payment plans than others. And then there are the issues of legal liability. I wonder if e-mail communications with patients become part of the patient's record. If yes, and this happens by automation, there may be some risk to patients in terms of making ungrounded information about themselves available to insurers in a way not interpreted by the physician. Patients may speculate about things in an office visit that the physician knows need not (and should not) be entered into the record. If medical services tend to move online those ungrounded speculations by patients may be more likely to become part of a patient's medical record. The value of a person's medical record is a function of professional choices about what is included. If the record becomes bloated with content that should not be included the next step is likely to be automated searching and summary services. Artificial intelligence is not to a place where this prospect is attractive. It seems to me the solution is for e-mail communications between physicians and patients not be entered into medical records automatically.
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2011/January/03/zocdoc.aspx?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+khn+%28All+Kaiser+Health+News%29&utm_content=Google+Feedfetcher
Physicians can make this service available to patients through a vender called ZocDoc at a cost of about $250 per month. Nearly 85 percent of appointments made on ZocDoc are made by new patients. The service provides patient reviews of physicians on their site.
The day will probably come when physicians make themselves available to communicate with patients by e-mail in appropriate situations. This is more feasible under some payment plans than others. And then there are the issues of legal liability. I wonder if e-mail communications with patients become part of the patient's record. If yes, and this happens by automation, there may be some risk to patients in terms of making ungrounded information about themselves available to insurers in a way not interpreted by the physician. Patients may speculate about things in an office visit that the physician knows need not (and should not) be entered into the record. If medical services tend to move online those ungrounded speculations by patients may be more likely to become part of a patient's medical record. The value of a person's medical record is a function of professional choices about what is included. If the record becomes bloated with content that should not be included the next step is likely to be automated searching and summary services. Artificial intelligence is not to a place where this prospect is attractive. It seems to me the solution is for e-mail communications between physicians and patients not be entered into medical records automatically.
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