The computer systems analyst was equally impressed with how fast the physician electronically called up his drug dosage history and tied it to his current symptoms. Like other online innovations, the Houston hospital's new digital record system offers its patients greater convenience. They can schedule appointments, get drug refills, peruse their health data, and E-mail their doctor. Medscape, the leader in this fledgling industry, has amassed 13.4 million digital patient records. With a password, patients and doctors can call up the information from anywhere.
Hospital administrators say the system improves efficiency and helps doctors avoid tragic errors.
Baylor, for instance, doesn't get explicit permission before transferring its patients' data to the system, nor does it expressly inform them of the privacy and security risks of online health records. You can cut 100,000 medical errors and save lives by sharing data. Richard M. Smith, who earlier this year exposed how health Web sites use personal medical information for marketing purposes, is troubled by Medscape's plans. People don't like being rented out. And Medscape gives itself room to gather even more data.