E-Health. Good or Bad?

The recent Australia government announcement that over half a billion dollars will be spent on an e-health system has raised many more questions.

The idea of a universally accessible, with your permission, system of health records is an interesting concept. It will allow doctors to see what medications patients are on, what treatments they have had and the results of any tests. This kind of information will improve the abilities of doctors to see changes overtime and will cut down on mistakes made because of the lack of information.

But does it go against our individual privacy? What kind of information will the system have about us?

Having worked in the health system dealing with patient records I understand the fear that this kind of system can cause. Already many hospitals, GP's and community health teams use dedicated electronic patient record systems. But the problem we face in healthcare is that increasingly the information is held in many different systems which means that doctors and other healthcare professionals need to access multiple systems in order to find out the required information. This takes time and does not allow for broader patterns of healthcare outcomes to be assessed very easily.

I think this announcement is a step in the right direction but I think we should be more concerned with what the system will ultimately look like. I have used several different e-health solutions and all leave something to be desired. They are ugly. Hard to use. And overall limit the possibilities of good information being recorded. Old paper records still are better able to record good and thorough information.

This debate really needs to focus on getting the right outcomes for the sharing of patient information in the best possible way. Personal health records are already being shared between institutions everyday and there  has not been a problem yet.