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| Paper Trail Too Slow To Alert Of
Outbreaks |
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(By Julie Appleby, USA TODAY)
The nation's public
health system relies far too much on "paper records," slowing reporting of
potential outbreaks of disease or bioterrorism attacks says a report out today
by a consortium of health groups.
But the system could be improved if
more doctors, hospitals and labs were able to "talk" with one another via the
Internet, says the study by the National HealthKey Collaborative.
While
many doctors go online for research, few health care systems have invested in
technology to link their doctors and hospitals via the Web and fewer still are
able to communicate that way with state or federal health agencies.
At
least five states have experimented with ways to improve the system, working
with HealthKey, a coalition of medical providers, state agencies and businesses
promoting Internet technology.
The state of Washington, for example,
linked several testing labs with the state health department, reducing the time
it takes to report a potential outbreak to the Centers for Disease Control from
an average of 47 days to about 2 days.
North Carolina linked two
hospital emergency departments with the health department, transmitting nearly
instantly information that could help spot an increase in the number of
patients with flulike symptoms suggestive of a possible outbreak of influenza,
food poisoning or biological attack.
Typically, such information is
collected by doctors or emergency rooms, typed up on forms and faxed to public
health departments. In the most serious cases, doctors or lab workers use the
telephone to directly call public health officials.
While secure
Web-based systems for transmitting such information exist, they aren't in wide
use for a variety of reasons, analysts say. The main one is money. Washington
state, for example, spent $1 million developing its system over the past year
and estimates it costs $40,000 for each county added.
Other difficulties
include protecting the privacy of medical records sent over the Internet,
standardizing data and deciding what data to collect. |
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