In a recent Wall Street Journal special section on health care, experts debated various health care issues, such as whether physicians should email with patients and whether the U.S. should implement universal patient identifier numbers.
Should Physicians Email With Patients?
In one opinion article, Joseph Kvedar -- founder and director of the Center for Connected Health in Boston -- argues that email communication could improve the quality of care patients receive. He writes that email helps him build trust with patients because it "gives my patients a sense of direct access to me. It sends a message that I care and that I'm available to answer questions in a timely manner."
Kvedar argues that concerns that emailing with patients will lead to privacy violations are "overblown" because privacy can be protected with email encryption or secure messaging portals. He adds, "I believe that patients understand the risks of email communication, and are willing to bear those risks in exchange for the more timely, useful and personal care that email can help bring about."
Meanwhile, Sam Bierstock -- founder and president of health IT consulting group Champions in Healthcare -- argues that email is "no way to practice medicine." He writes that online communication could "diminish the quality of care delivered" because it does not allow health care providers to interpret body language and tone, which can be important when treating patients.
In addition, Bierstock argues that "email is a treasure chest for malpractice attorneys" because lawyers could question whether a doctor offered a sufficient response to a patient's email or responded in a timely manner (Kvedar/Bierstock, Wall Street Journal, 1/23).
Should All Patients Have a Universal ID Number?
In a second opinion article, University of Massachusetts Medical School Chancellor Michael Collins argues that the absence of a uniform system for linking patients to their medical records has "created a sea of unrelated patient-identity numbers that are bogging down our medical-records systems."
To address the problem, Collins recommends the implementation of a universal patient identifier that "seamlessly connects a person to all of his or her records." He outlines ways to keep a universal patient identifier system secure and calls for Congress to fund research into such systems.
Meanwhile , Deborah Peel -- founder of Patient Privacy Rights and leader of the Coalition for Patient Privacy -- argues that a universal patient identifier system would allow the "government and corporations to exploit the single biggest flaw in health care technology today: Patients can't control who sees, uses and sells their sensitive health data."
She writes that universal patient identifiers would "only exacerbate" existing health data security issues because it would allow someone to use a single number to access a patient's entire medical record. Peel adds that the "best way to share sensitive health information is to build electronic records systems where patients are in control of their own medical records, not government and industry" (Collins/Peel, Wall Street Journal, 1/23).