A 'chip' off the old block...

VeriChip Corporation Supports Introduction of Personal Health Information Act

VeriChip Corporation (NASDAQ: CHIP), a provider of RFID systems for healthcare and patient-related needs, announced today its support of the Personal Health Information Act (H.R.6289), introduced by Congressman Patrick Kennedy. The bill proposes to set up a fund to provide financial incentives for physicians who establish interactive electronic personal health records for their patients.

VeriChip believes that the introduction of this bill represents a major milestone in the proliferation of more consistent, accurate personal health records for patients in the United States.

VeriChip further believes that its VeriMed Patient Identification System, consisting of the VeriMed implantable microchip and corresponding patient database, is the appropriate solution for establishing electronic medical records for at-risk patients.

REMINDER ON CONGRESSMAN PATRICK KENNEDY! [yes, son of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.)]

Ensure Privacy to Maximize Benefits of Health Care ITKennedy to introduce personal health records bill

Under the Personalized Health Information Act, physicians would receive $2 for each patient for whom they build a personal health record listing the diagnoses they make and the medicines they prescribe, said Michael Zamore, a policy adviser in Kennedy's office, at
the Health IT Summit sponsored by the eHealth Initiative.

Better building blocks (see box below-A personal health records push)

Rep. Kennedy To Take Another Stab at PHR Bill (required - free registration)

Do you get this?! They get $2.00 for my information? And then I came in early so that they could get this information only to sit waiting longer to see the doctor. Unbelievable!
Oh, while I was 'mining' for information on this bill and it's ramifications, I 'fell' on this one concerning Congressman Patrick Kennedy's state of Rhode Island:

Data breach at Westerly Hospital (RI) (required - free registration)

Authorities are investigating a security breach of Westerly Hospital records after learning that patients’ confidential information was posted on a public Web site, raising concerns of possible identity theft.

No cases of identity theft have been reported so far. The security breach affects 2,242 Westerly Hospital patients whose accounts had some activity — medical, financial, or otherwise — “over a period of a couple of days in January,” said Charles S. Kinney, the hospital’s president and chief executive officer.

“It appears to be a snapshot in time,” he said.

Details of how or when the breach happened were not available yesterday.

“We have our suspicions,” Kinney said.

“But until we know, we are not going to release anything.”It is not known how many of the affected patients are from Rhode Island. Westerly Hospital admits an estimated 5,000 patients per year, and has between 25,000 and 30,000 visits to its emergency room.

The hospital has hired a computer forensics expert, Global Digital Forensics of Dunedin, Fla., to investigate the breach.“I can’t tell you how that information was accessed, whether it was accessed through a subcontractor that we have, because everything we send is encrypted,” Kinney said yesterday afternoon.

As a precaution, Kinney said, the hospital has “cut off access” temporarily to its contractors, such as collection agencies and reference laboratories.

This is the tip of the iceberg! Your medical information will be treated just like a credit report and will determine if you can or will receive medical care.

You may wonder why I continue to post these items, I do so because I have spent a large amount of time in the system, unfortunately hospitalized. I was blessed.
I had insurance and a good support network of Prayer Warriors, family and friends.

Oh what a tangled web we weave,When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott