BANGOR, Maine — It’s not often that a senior White House official uses the word “awesomeness” in a speech, let alone to describe government health data, but U.S. Chief Technology Officer Todd Park believes in the power of information.
During an energetic presentation Tuesday at the Spectacular Event Center, Park expounded on the government’s recent efforts to put reams of health data into the hands of patients and providers.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is working to make health information — from public health trends to clinical trial results to individual medical records — more accessible, he said.
Park highlighted a program led by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which allows veterans and members of the military to download their individual health records through a secure website. More than 750,000 people have accessed their records since the program launched in 2010, he said.
“It’s not our data; it’s your data. You should be able to get a copy of your own data,” Park said.
Personal medical records are just one piece of a wider effort to unlock health information across the country, he said.
By making information about product recalls, nutritious foods and other health issues available in user-friendly formats, the government opens the door to entrepreneurs and innovators who can turn the data into products and services that improve health care, Park said.
An application called Asthmapolis, for example, tracks when and where patients suffer asthma attacks through a GPS device attached to their asthma inhaler, he said. Another mobile and Web app, iTriage, helps consumers decode their symptoms and locate the best provider.
Park’s background in entrepreneurship includes co-founding electronic health records provider athenahealth in 1997. Before becoming CTO in March, he oversaw technology for the U.S. Health and Human Services, launching healthcare.gov, a site that helps consumers sort through health insurance options.
Park spoke in Bangor at the request of Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems.
EMHS is working to better coordinate patient care using health information technology under a new model known as an accountable care organization.
Ultimately, the government’s role is to not only publish health data, but also to pave the way toward improving the health of Americans, Park said.
“I can’t eat data and be healed,” he said. “I can’t pour data on a wound and heal it.”
This is very, very bad. That he did, in fact, use the non-word, “awesomeness,” provides a clue to the dehumanization of patient care in favor of technology, but, moreover, that this allows, ” government opens the door to entrepreneurs and innovators who can turn the data into products and services that improve health care, Park said.” means they’ll be selling personal health information to the highest bidder – not that that isn’t already done.
We should have all our own medical records. Giving them to the government in the name of health “care,” is a scam that must be avoided.
News Flash. The Government already has this information. What he is saying is that you and your doctors should have access to your own information, too. Right now you do not but the Government does.
I agree this is a slippery slope.
Personally, I LIKE the idea of patients having access to their medical information – I think it would make for a better informed patient. I also believe EVERY patient should have a list of their medications with the frequency they take the med and the dosage (in milligrams or micrograms) of the medication. That would make things easier for doctors and nurses and safer for the patients, particularly elderly patients that may be taking a lot of medicine.
We already have access to our medical information. You have the right to review your records and to have copies of them. Now. If you don’t have them. Get them, although I have no idea whether they have the ability to copy them to a disk you can take with you, if they have thrown away your paper records.
Do you not see where it states that the purpose is creating additional markets for businesses.
viptoshopper.com
Health Status updates via Facebook.
New Flash: They already have our information it because we’ve not been paying attention, and we’ve allowed it to happen.
At any given time you can certainly sign a medical records release and get your information – all of it – right now. The difference here is putting it on the internet where any pimple-faced hacker (or anyone else seeking info on you for that matter) can access it for any reason at all (irrespective of any so-called “secure” website).
By my signing a release, I am giving permission for my doctor to access it. I am giving permission. This is a big deal for people who wish to have control of their own personal information.
How many of you have heard of Healthinfonet here in Maine? Guess what? Your records are already on it because you have to opt OUT of it. Pay attention to the little blue cube at the top.
http://www.hinfonet.org/about-us Note it’s not owned by insurance companies or employers. Who’s to say they can’t sell that information to data miners for $ even though they’re supposed to be nonprofit?
A GPS tracking device on an asthma inhaler? Really?
Yes. People are presumed to give permission to have their records shared unless they know they must request opting out.
We should see and review our medical records, including subjective comments entered that people might well find informative.
Electronic medical records are not going to increase the quality of health care.