[LINK] Your Medicare records online

[Marghanita da Cruz]

Dr Bob Jansen wrote:
> The other thing to remember is that there are in fact no proven cases  
> of online medical records actually making things safer for patients. A  
> double blind test of this would be interesting, if any ethics  
> committee would approve it.
> 

Medicare records are not so much about health information 
but rather accounting.

One useful application is for regular check ups...Medicare 
allows for an eye test every two years. At least once, my 
Optometrists has rung Medicare, while I was sitting opposite 
her, to check when I had my last eye test. I certainly 
couldn't remember whether I had had an eye test elsewhere or 
when.

> In terms of costs, having just implemented an electronic medical  
> record system at a major public hospital, it is clear that costs saved  
> in one area are merely spent on the IT infrastructure and running  
> costs. So I would doubt the cost equation would come down in favour of  
> such systems.
<snip>

One of the curious things about IT systems and billing, is 
that they seem to have moved out of part of doing business 
(ie efficiency) to a special category for which you can 
charge separately.  Telstra even tried to charge you to pay 
your bill!

With regard to unique identifiers....

> Gillard flags national ID scheme for schoolchildren
> 
> Posted Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:44am AEDT
> Head shot of Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard speaking on September 28, 2009.
> 
> ID scheme: Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard (Dave Hunt: AAP )
> 
> The Federal Government plans to assign every schoolchild an individual identity number to track their academic progress.
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/24/2828706.htm>


Marghanita
-- 
Marghanita da Cruz
http://ramin.com.au
Tel: 0414-869202