e-Health, and other systems we can learn from

Barbados, West Indies

I recently received a couple of interesting pieces of Canada Post mail that I feel are both interesting and worthy of discussion.
Firstly, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) sent me a postcard encouraging me to file my 2012 tax documents online, as opposed to going the traditional paper route.
Secondly, there was an article in an Information Week publication suggesting healthcare providers should be copying the processes being used in the airline industry.

Let's dissect both of them.
Firstly, with regards to the CRA postcard, this strikes me as a definite shift in policy in that the agency has come to the conclusion that the current paper trail is leading us nowhere fast and it's time to fully adopt an online system.
To my thinking, things will develop in a manner similar to the following:

• step 1: encourage adoption -- use a carrot by telling taxpayers that online filing has its advantages -- "fast, easy and secure"
• step 2: lower the boom -- make online filing mandatory (as it now is for tax preparers)

Secondly, regarding the airlines, the main drift of the article is that airlines have adopted online technology in a massive way to get more done with much, much less.

So, how does this relate to e-Health you may ask?
Well, admittedly, we're way past the encouragement stage -- we e-Healthers know most if not all of the advantages of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), Personal Health Records (PHRs) and the like by now -- it's time for our Government to step up and lower the boom to not only make EMRs a mandatory tool for all healthcare providers, it must also ensure these electronic tools are able to seamlessly communicate with each other.
How would you feel if the tax office in your area had to fax documents back and forth to Ottawa to help resolve your query?
I know airline customer relations departments would bear the brunt of my ire if I was unable to book and manage my flight/boarding pass from anywhere on the planet.

Yet, paradoxically, I'm still happy to visit my doctor who still uses paper files to record chart notes and complete requisitions for lab tests and specialist referrals!
Just imagine if I could log on to a web site and review my medical history, or schedule my next doctor's visit from a beach in the Caribbean -- I have similar functionality with my tax records or my travel history, so what's special about my health data?
That's a question I continue to wrestle with.

Until next time, get out there and enjoy the outdoors!


Ernest A. James

President and CEO
Regal Informatics Inc.