Steve
Baker of Blogspotting
(part of BusinessWeek online) had an entry on May 24^th entitled: How
about a national identity and health IDs?

We have consented
to relinquish some of our rights to privacy (think supermarket club cards,
security checks at the airport, EZpass lanes on toll roads) for something in
return (discounts, safety, convenience).  

Yet, as Steve
points out, “How much of our medical data is flying around from doctors to
insurers to credit card companies? … And yet when we go to a hospital emergency
room they don’t have our data on file. We protect our privacy and get it
backward.” 

My question has
always been whose data is it anyway? It’s mine (and yours)! Why don’t
we have the option to manage our own data? 

There are many
companies concentrating on getting medical content (best practices,
evidence-based medicine, disease, and drug information) into the medical
practitioner’s workflow.  

Who’s
concentrating on getting patient information together and correct? Who has more of a vested interest in getting
my medical information recorded and preserved accurately than I do?!!!

Why can’t someone
give me a tool in which I can (and my docs can) enter/transmit/or otherwise
record my medical information and have it accessible where and when I (or my
"next of kin") want to authorize access? 

In so many
industries we are seeing the consumer take control. Why not personal medical information?

Food for thought
– but if anyone knows of a product that allows you to do this, let me
know! I’ll sign up.