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Social Security Administration Launches E-Health Info Exchange
Lucas123 writes "In what could be the start of a national health information exchange system, the Social Security Administration became the first federal agency to go live with a public-private electronic health records information exchange that will cut wait time for 2.6 million Americans who apply for benefits each year by weeks or months. The electronic exchange runs on a database operated by a non-profit organization in Virginia and open-source software deployed at the Social Security Administration. 'The goal of the NHIN effort is to enable secure access to health care data and real-time information sharing among physicians, patients, hospitals, laboratories, pharmacies and federal agencies ... regardless of location or the applications that are being used.'"
This should be in politics, not science.
The thing that worries me is the amount of information sharing, it seems that this is just ripe for abuse, data theft, data loss, and misinformation. I would love it if just my doctor had access to my medical records instead of everyone and their brother.
Time to offend someone
I realise that a lot of geeks care a lot more about their privacy than I do, and this might be bad news for them, but personally I would love not to have those endless forms to fill out every time I see a new doctor, and it would be very handy if I had access to all my medical records through a web browser.
The difference between having this and not having this is akin to investments/banks that provide web interfaces and those that don't - I have one credit union account that's not on the web and it's kind of irritating that I have to physically show up (or wait for a statement) to check the balance on it. All the rest are conveniently available to me whenever I want to bother logging in.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Hopefully this will keep those worthless Baby Boomers from prematurely bankrupting Social Security with multiple prescriptions for their endless psychological disorders and sports injuries.
"I assumed blithely that there were no elves out there in the darkness"
When you file for long-term disability with Social Security, they need to grab all of the recent medical records from your primary physician and all the specialists you're seeing. This process takes a long time, generates a ton of redundant paperwork (many dupes of lab work and such that went to multiple places), and isn't very accurate. I went through this a few years ago with my mother. One of the physicians didn't respond in time to the request they sent for more information, stuff that was pretty critical. We believe that was one of the factors causing her initial claim and first appeal to be denied.
That was over four years ago; her case is just coming up for the final review now. That's how big the backlog is here, and medical records processing time is one of the big drivers to the process.
At the point where you're applying for Social Security disability, your medical records are no longer really private anyway. They're going to scour everything available to confirm that what's happened to you is both permanent and real.
Who's taking bets on how soon insurance and marketing companies get access? And then use it against you.
Don't you think western civilization is general would be stronger if we tried multiple approaches in parallel and saw which worked best?
Paying higher taxes for more government service is good, people can move from the US to Europe or Canada. If you prefer to pay less taxes and get less, you can move from Europe or Canada to the US.
-- Support a free market in the field of government
"...open-source software..."
"...enable secure access..."
"... regardless of location or the applications that are being used."
So in other words, it's the world most expensive installation of LAMP with SSL, isn't it?
If it's anything more complex than this, it probably shouldn't be, but since the Government is involved...well 'nuff said.
The true purpose should be obvious. Social Security cannot survive, so they're going to try to cut it down as much as possible, weeding out as many as they can. I'm not saying that is good or bad - Social Security should not exist at all, so no ethical judgments can be made about its individual actions, except to say that they're all bad moves. If they announced an irrevocable plan for shutting it all down, then I could said that is a good thing, insofar as it actually cannot be revoked.
Who's taking bets on how soon insurance and marketing companies get access? And then use it against you.
Soon, it won't be but a mouse-click away for "Big Brother" to correlate and compare the triple-cheesburger purchase you made on you (G-Bank of Ameridebt) credit card with the G-Med records system that has the nasty doctors note about your bad cholesterol levels. Don't worry, they'll adjust your rate for you...weekly.
It can be argued that personal medical information is potentially more important than you life savings. Just a few weeks ago some company in the UK was selling confidential data on worker's to building firms that illegally vetted new hires.
There are probably many unscrupulous companies out there that would vet new hires based on health factors such as mental health history, insurance risks (for companies with private insurance), or simply the fact that the STD you have may indicate you are more likely to sexually harass coworkers.
Someone having your online banking account information can only steal the money you have at that time. Someone having your medial information can steal your ability to make money.
Bring it on! This could be very lucrative.
BTW: Can I interest you in any prescription drugs?
Has anyone ever anywhere suggested a line item opt out?
I know there are people out there who feel the need to keep health secrets. Probably they are clinically paranoid, but that's not the issue I'm discussing here (although I will make fun of them anyway).
Why not have a line item opt out?
Normal or highly extroverted people would not opt out of any line item because they don't care. Most old people I know seem to greatly enjoy telling everyone about their operations and such, so the old people's unwillingness to learn something new would be no problem.
People whom in my opinion are unbalanced would opt out of absolutely every line. And that's perfectly OK. Of course if a parent opts out a line for their kids stating they are allergic to bee stings, and the kid dies of a bee sting, who gets the blame?
Personally I couldn't care less if everyone on slashdot learns I am allergic to amoxocilian and I had a mild bout of pneumonia back in 04 that was cured in about 4 hours with a three pack of zithromycin. But IF I had something to hide, I'd just log in and click "hide" and away it goes like it never happened.
Doesn't seem like much of a technological challenge.
Another interesting option would be a nationwide registry of stuff you'd WANT to publicize, like allergies. Sign a release form and the dr will post it. That seems like a blindingly good idea in general.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
lets hope this doesn't turn into the cluster-f that we have with justice data. A schema the length of the bible, 4 different versions that no one is sure which to use, and a competing system running down the same path. And this is all dealing with intra-governmental agencies! No private sector here.
Sorry friends, but this is just plain wrong.
Being someone that has just finished going thru the whole damn Disability process, this is mis-information designed to make the SSA look good.
The problem isn't that the records don't arrive in a timely manner, the real issue is the ridiculous way SSA goes about processing requests.
After filing my Disability Claim, two months later, SSA asks me to go see one of their "approved" Doctors. I arrived for my appointment, was taken to an exam room, and when the Doctor came in was greeted with, "So, what brings you to my office?" I had to explain to him I was here for a Disability exam. He asked me why I was in pain, to which I replied I had ACM (http://www.wacma.com) and he said, "What's that?" This is when I figured out the government sent me to a Physiarist (Muscle Doctor) when my issues are Neurological. This Doctor gave me a10 minute exam, not even a Neurological Exam, and then said "Thanks, you can leave". Of course, his report claimed I was fine, and of course, SSA denied my claim.
After this I filed my appeal, got an attorney to handle it, and waited, and waited, and waited. Three years went by, and finally I got my Disability Hearing this past February. I received my Disability Hearing Results in 2 weeks, and was found to be fully Disabled and part of the record reads that the Judge gave NO WEIGHT to the Govt., Doctor because he didn't exam me correctly.
The facts speak clearly for themselves. 99% of the first filing for Disability are Denied. Those that file an appeal, 75% are approved. The problem, and of course this is govt. so that explains a lot, is that the SSA is denying claims hoping to get rid of the fakers, but then making millions of people wait for hearings when they know they are disabled.
Sorry, this "getting records" quickly BS won't make anything quicker, knowing the govt,. it will somehow slow it down.
One last fact for you to chew on, when I got notice of my Hearing, it was 30 days before the hearing. The Court and Atty., were able to received updated Medical Records from my Hospital and Doctors in a timely manner and were there quickly enough to be added into the record and burned on a CD. Not sure why they now claim they don't get records in a timely manner.
Bob
Just like in Die Hard 4 !
SSA computer room is secure, right?
Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion, you must set yourself on fire.
Social Security isn't a bank account. It is an inter-generational support system. The money deducted from your paycheck isn't for you later, it is for older people now. When you reach retirement, younger people will be paying for you.
The problem is, the system is predicated on the idea of there always being more young people to pay for fewer old people. As long as there is a high birth rate and the population is increasing, we're fine. Unfortunately, the population isn't growing due to a high birth rate, it is growing because of immigration. Not all of the immigrants are paying into Social Security and they certainly aren't paying a lot in. Also, most of the high paying factory jobs are gone now. Over all, Social Security is bringing in a lot less than it used to.
And there are a lot more old people around now.
A significant challenge for the future is balancing the number of old people against what the government can support. We're going to have to flush some of them out of the system earlier than they might like. That means spending less on Medicare and less on Social Security. Maybe we can just get a law passed that says it is illegal to treat anyone over 60. That would help. Maybe make it illegal to rent to them also. Those old folks won't make it through too many winters out on the streets.
Problem solved.
.
Funny, from that title (and article), I originally thought: 'so the SSA is taking over DHS' since they can't find one legit and sane person to run it. Then, SSA running healthcare? We sure F'ed now...
Then I read TFA and all was well again, back to regular politics.
Of course doctors are technical, they just aren't experts in digital electronics. Biology and chemistry most certainly are technical subjects, and medical care is not much more than providing tech support for the human body.
I can find no source, open or otherwise.
I can also find no mention of the standards that are being used.
Invasion of medical privacy will still be very profitable to private employers when hiring (a sicker person is likely to be less productive, hence less desirable), to lenders (a person with history of cancer in the family is a higher risk), and so on, wherever reducing risk illegally gives a competitive advantage. How would government health care fix it?
Every other first world nation happens to depend on innovations happening in the private US health care market. Newest drugs take years to become available in Europe after the US has paid the early adopter price. Not surprisingly, US leads, e.g., in cancer survival rates.
Libraries have nothing to do with socialism, because they do not redistribute wealth. Socializing losses is certainly socialism, of the worst kind. So is state monopoly on education (ever wondered why it is so hard it is to open a private or a charter school? School boards and unions want no competition)
Socialism kills competition, and that kills innovation. The Soviets tried very hard to catch up with the US in technology, and totally failed. BTW, health care there sucked big time (I happen to know, having grown up there).
This is how it got to be "first" in the first place. In the first world people were free to spend their resources (money, labor, time) as they saw fit, rather than how the "leader" or "party" told them. At the same time, people could invest and keep what they earned. All other social systems (or "ways of production" if you like Marx) were eventually left far behind.
If you don't understand this, you must be horribly misinformed about the state of real world outside the US. There is no economic freedom in either Sudan or Russia, and no hope of earning anything much through innovation, medical or otherwise. In the 3rd world, either you have friends in the government or the local mob, or your property is theirs, and they "redistribute" it however they like (mostly to themselves, but you don't care if they gave it to the poor instead).
that will cut wait time for 2.6 million Americans who apply for benefits each year by weeks or months.
Yea right it took THREE YEARS to get SSI after breaking my back and the only way I got it was the third attempt I hired a lawyer you of course got a chunk of my money after I starved for three years.
I worked on the other side of a desk taking those disability claims for several years. My experience was that most of the Social Security employees, especially those taking those disability claims, were very committed to doing everything within their power to help people get through the process. Until very recently, Social Security employee levels had fallen to the same level they were at in the early 70's. That's great when you account for all of the efficiencies that technology has brought about. But now their customer base has grown exponentially. Boomer's are entering an age where they are more vulnerable to health issues but they still need to work. So they are more likely to file for disability. Overloaded System + Aging Population + Economic Downturn = Bad Outcome