[telemedicine] Digital Medical Records Provacy Pros and Cons

[Medical Informatics News]

Where health care is concerned, pattern recognition can be a matter of life and death. That’s
why the Mayo Clinic and IBM recently
announced an ambitious multiyear partnership to apply IBM’s computational powers to the Mayo’s extensive patient
database, creating an omnibus electronic file called the Mayo Clinical Life Sciences System. From Discover
Magazine:


Opinions are sharply divided about whether or not the recent rush by doctors and hospitals to digitize patient
records is beneficial. Advocates argue that digital files are far more reliable—not to mention more legible—than
hand-scrawled patient records stashed in manila folders. Detractors worry about maintaining privacy when health-care
databases are stored on the Internet. One thing is clear: Patient care will never be the same. In coming years,
interlinked databases of health records may radically change the interaction between doctor and patient as well as the
way researchers study diseases and seek cures.

http://telemedicine.weblogsinc.com/e...4000813021356/