This is an issue I have had GREAT concern about for a number of years now, and in one of the first attempts for a Government backed system to be deployed (albeit in the UK), it's being shown that he fears may not have been without good reason. The issues seem to be in part with an unsuccessful migration, a less than stellar systems analysis, a desire for a rapid deployment, a failure to properly assess the risks, and a failure to run a system as a testbed in parallel prior to running on active, live, data. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=379821&in_page_id=1774 http://www.manchesteronline.co.uk/men/news/health/s/207/207648_computer_threat_to_patients.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4802560.stm http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/5144 http://www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=3&newsID=3834 Two US Congressmen are pushing a Bill forward to initiate the use of an EMR/EHR system for Federal Employees records, with the intent that it be subsequently pushed for use by private practice physicians and insurance companies... and while they say they've considered the possible risks and the magnitude and complexity of managing medical records, I can tel you they've missed a lot of considerations that we as RIMs are aware of. Here's a link to the article about Congressman Jon Porter and Congressman William "Lacy" Clay's plans. I've written to them, and I'd encourage others to as well. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/01/AR2006030102217.html -- Larry Medina Danville, CA RIM Professional since 1972 List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
