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Throughout my adult life, I have been thinking up various applications for technology. I can remember sitting in a bar called Peabody’s in Binghamton NY discussing the possibility of inventing vending machines that would be placed in college dorms to dispense soft-serve ice cream cones.
That concept never really took off, but that kind of thought process has remained a constant for me.
Most of the ideas lose some steam and fade away, but some developments actually take root and turn into something functional. Presently, I’m not considering turning my attention to bringing something else to life, it’s more like I am making a wish list and expecting today’s great innovators to come along and meet my demands.
I am thinking about my IPhone and the amazing applications that are being developed. There is a great two part series rundown of IPhone applications at Todd Crawford’s blog called Todd Talks. I recommend looking over his advice and choosing the most appropriate applications for your needs.
The application that I want to see developed for my IPhone corresponds with my growing frustration whenever visiting medical treatment facilities. There is great debate about letting a company like Google store your personal medical records, prescriptions, allergies and all pertinent information in their vast databases for access via ubiquitous web applications. This certainly raises serious concerns over patient privacy and many health care industry regulations would have to be amended to prevent unlawful searches.
However, I am a big proponent of cloud computing and my ability to access my work files from any internet connection has had a tremendous impact on my daily productivity. I believe that this same concept of secure data storage can be successfully applied to the medical records industry. As I sit with my wife or daughters trying to “remember” various procedures or treatment scenarios, always thinking that it has been over ten years since my last tetanus shot, reminding the doctor what our next scheduled visit might entail … I want that information at my fingertips! It drives me crazy to see them scribbling on a form document that gets turned over to some office admin to manually key into our precious life records. I’ll concede that I have been fortunate not to have had any major medical issues and maybe the procedures are better at the higher levels of treatment, but technology should allow me to maintain and access my own personal records no matter where I am seeking care.
Searching the ITunes Store there are certainly some manual entry, record keeping applications, that apply more towards simple fitness regimes. There is even a physicians “chart” application that may lead in some interesting data portability directions.
But there is one application that piques my interest …. It’s from a company called Life Records Inc. and the application is called My Life Record. They may be on the right track. For $49.99 the application allows me to store and access my entire family’s records.
Data entry is still a problem … a fax number and a code given to the Doctor to submit the records to the company doesn’t compel me to sign up, and it relies on HIPAA regulations that require the doctor to transmit the information to the company. I want to use the IPhone’s extraordinary synching & imaging capabilities to get the records on the spot with a plug in and download at the end of my visit, while it simultaneously synchs with the cloud for data storage.
I also need a much better assurance and comfort level with the service provider to rely on this technology, which is why I believe it is going to take a major company initiative from the giants such as Google, Microsoft, Oracle or some other major data warehousing company to meet the needs of the entire transaction .. from doctor’s office, to application to patient.
Now get to work!
