In 2001, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) emphasized the need for patients to have greater control over their health information. We describe a Boston healthcare system’s approach to providing patients access to their electronic health records (EHRs) via Patient Gateway, a secure, Web-based portal.
A valuable metric of hospital performance is the rate of nosocomial infections, particularly urinary tract infections (UTIs). Current measurement techniques are expensive to administer and are not widely available. Determining a measurement index of nosocomial UTI incidence using Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data to make recommendations may better align hospital payment with delivery of quality healthcare.
Diagnostic coding after hospital discharge is mainly based on abstracting of paper medical records by medical record coders. Studies show that the quality of these data is often moderate, possibly because discharge registries play no role in daily patient care. Timely writing of discharge letters is needed to support continuity of care, at least in the Netherlands.
This article provides an overview of the field of bioinformatics and its implications for the various participants. Next-generation issues facing developers (programmers), users (molecular biologists), and the general public (patients) who would benefit from the potential applications are identified. The goal is to create awareness and debate on the opportunities (such as career paths) and the challenges such as privacy that arise.
