Making the Health Care System Electronic, isn't really a scary thing, it's a very helpful and useful way for the patient to get the best care he/she can. This is from a Nova Scotia Government web-page, it might help dispell a fear or two for people. It works great here.

Nova Scotia Takes Lead in Health Record Privacy
Department of HealthFebruary 13, 2003 4:26 PM

--------------------------–
Nova Scotians will be the first to benefit from a system that
will emphasize an individual's privacy in the creation of
electronic health records.

Canada Health Infoway (Infoway) announced today, Feb. 13, it will
partner with the Nova Scotia Department of Health to develop a
privacy toolkit that will be used by the health-care sector in
the development of electronic health records across the country.

"Electronic health records play an important role for individuals
using our health-care system," said Sarah Kramer, chief
information officer, Department of Health. "Nova Scotians will be
on the cutting edge of developing and benefiting from this
system, which will incorporate leading privacy knowledge and
techniques."

"Protecting privacy is fundamental to the creation of effective
electronic health records," said Susan Hyatt, vice-president,
portfolio management at Infoway. "This initiative supports our
efforts to protect the security of information and the privacy
of individuals, and the result will benefit all Canadians. When
complete, the privacy toolkit will be available for other provinces
to use."

Electronic health records provide a secure and confidential
record of health history and care, including doctor's visits,
hospital stays, prescription drugs, laboratory tests, and other
key information that helps health professionals provide better
care.

The privacy toolkit will give health-care professionals samples
and reliable information to use when building their privacy
programs. It will include privacy policies and principles from
different jurisdictions, and summaries of providers' practice
standards. Best practices will be identified on a national and
international basis.

Infoway is an independent corporation whose members are federal,
provincial and territorial deputy ministers of health. Its
mission is to foster and accelerate the development and adoption
of compatible electronic health information systems in Canada by
investing strategically and working in partnership with governments,
the health sector, the private sector and other stakeholders.

Information on Infoway is available on the Web site at
http://www.infoway-inforoute.ca .

Hackers can get into anything these days. Putting our health records online is extremely dangerous in my opinion. If someone wanted your info bad enough they'd definitely be able to get it to use against you or embarrass you..what ever.

Cindy..Ga.

Why in the world no one is questioning
the following……..

1). Insurance Fraud
2). The cost of education in the medical field
3). The cost of equipment
4). The wages the medical field professional earn
5). The cost of supplies and mechandise

In stead of targeting us little people why not begin with insurance fraud.
There is no way it should cost $150.00 for a band aid in the hospital.
And there is no way any medical staff, such as a doctor who walks in and
Reads your chart while you are asleep should be paid $420.00 for doing so,
And should not do so without your consent.

There is no way medical education, or any education should cost what it does.
Lets ask the education providers to cut their fees. Lets make them cut their fees!!!

The cost of equipment is out of site and could be cut as well, probably in half.

And what about doctor fees? They are ridiculous.

Why can’t we target these areas instead of the working Class
People who have no more money?

What happened to us, why are we loosing this great country we
Fought to keep so great?

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When I hear stories of the government websites getting hacked,
I feel that no electronic files are totally safe.