John Mercuri effectively argues the importance of applying ethical standards to the current debate on EHRs. Patient ownership of their data, in terms of both content and privacy, is key. As electronic patient records (albeit stripped of their protected health information) are sought by pharmaceutical and insurance companies, policy-makers, and researchers, there is great potential for both financial and personal harm to individuals if the data are not fully protected. Further, inherent conflicts of interest arise when the same companies that maintain electronic patient data also sell the much sought-after information from their data warehouses, a practice that happens today. Clearly, there are numerous benefits to EHRs; however, we are reminded by Mr. Mercuri of the importance of including these ethical considerations in the current debate.
Full article
Mercuri, John, Clinical Correlations (The NYU Internal Medicine Blog),
Federal funding may be encouraging a move toward EHR, but there’s more to it than just installing systems. How can healthcare data pooling lead to a better system? More at http://www.healthcaretownhall.com/?p=2002