Medical Records May Go Online
Mon Aug 23, 3:00 AM ET
Mark S. Sullivan, Medill News Service

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This is the kind of story that may spark the imagination of some people. — Jack

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It's five in the morning. You're in a hotel room having a serious allergic reaction to something you ate. Do you know where your medical records are?

If you're like most Americans, they're resting peacefully in a manila folder at your doctor's office. And the writing inside looks something like Sanskrit.

Someday, that information could be only a modem away--or closer, perhaps in a keychain drive in your luggage. The Bush administration has released a strategic plan for every U.S. citizen's health information to be stored in an "electronic health record" central database within ten years. Each person would have a "personal health record," an electronic file the individual would manage, that could exchange information with the EHR database.

The PHR would contain information on a person's insurance plan, prescriptions, allergies, medical history, and conditions such as asthma or diabetes."

(Via Yahoo! News.)