Hi all
Have you guys thought of starting a campaign to get both liberal and labor to force common data schematics for your medical information? Has any one tried it before? Regards James Bishop Longevity Medical Ph 03 98482009 Fax 03 98407064 Mb 0413582615 _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Sent: Monday, 19 February 2007 2:51 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Ownership of Medical Records Hi Chris Security and holding your data for ransom is two differing things. We must demand the data tags- you referred to 'schema' or data schematics are used by all medical software companies. I would prefer the government to enforce this as the software companies currently hold you to ransom by making it very difficult and needlessly complicated for you to move your property from one platform to another. It also has the effect of enabling some very lazy companies ( not referring to any company in particular ) to assume we will not move and will keep paying them no matter how poor their product is or how badly it is when compared to newer products in the marketplace. Having full encryption is great. Not having the keys to decrypt your data is as Jerry says at best an "EARLY TERMINATION FEE" and at worst holds you and your information to ransom to prevent you moving software platforms. Regards James Bishop Longevity Medical Ph 03 98482009 Fax 03 98407064 Mb 0413582615 _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Tansell Sent: Monday, 19 February 2007 10:58 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Mach Dinh-Vu'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Roger Brown' Cc: 'Mae Taylor'; 'Medtech Help Desk'; 'Kenneth Wong' Subject: RE: Ownership of Medical Records Thanks for that, James. The data in many applications, medical included, store data in plain text (ie unincrypted). There are links setup within the database application that associates the data into meaningful information. In this way, an element of the data structure may be configured and optimised to store, say, Medicare numbers. There might be 1,000,000 medicare numbers all in a list. There is a structure document that is created as the database is designed, called the SCHEMA. This shows all of the links that converts the "Machine-useable but human-useless" data into the information we want. The data is all there, freely available, and largely useless - unless there is either an export tool that packages all of the data back into a "historical record" format, or the company that designed the database releases the schema. You will not get the schema (one of the advantages of open-source - the schema is in the public domain). Essentially, if a company has to rely on not allowing the data owner free access to the information contained within the database, eventually that company will fail. It would be different if the database was populated by Doctors (or admin staff) in the format of 1,000,000 medicare numbers, followed by 1,000,000 firstnames, followed by 1,000,000 lastnames, etc, but this isn't how the data was entered, just how it is stored. It's a bit like lending someone a book and they shred it before they give it back. All the data is there, it is in a "plain text" format, but it is in a format that makes it useless in any real sense. Hope this makes sense! With best regards, Chris. _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of James Sent: Monday, 19 February 2007 8:43 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Mach Dinh-Vu'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Roger Brown' Cc: 'Mae Taylor'; 'Medtech Help Desk'; 'Kenneth Wong' Subject: RE: Ownership of Medical Records HI All Medical Director 3 has encrypted the image files- Great security except they do not give the doctor the keys to unlock the encryption (unless you use the software MD3) Medical Observer may be about to published on this topic and I guess the AMA paper may be as a results of enquiries made to it be the journalist who is writing the article. I understand the Medtech or interbase password and keys are very well known. I was told MD3 will encrypt the data into a raw format for about $1000 but take about a week. This effectively locks you to them unless you can shut down for a week or so and the software your moving to can reconfigure the raw format quickly for you! Regards James Bishop Longevity Medical Ph 03 98482009 Fax 03 98407064 Mb 0413582615 _____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Chris Tansell Sent: Saturday, 17 February 2007 8:46 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Mach Dinh-Vu'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Roger Brown' Cc: 'Mae Taylor'; 'Medtech Help Desk'; 'Kenneth Wong' Subject: Ownership of Medical Records Importance: H)igh Hi All , (but specifically directed at Roger/Mach/Russell) , A colleague noticed this in the latest AMA Friday Fax, Please can you guys tell me the situation with MedTech and (if you know) which company/program is trying to claim ownership of the data? I have sent this email on Saturday 17th Feb 2007. It would not be unreasonable to expect a response by COB Wednesday 21st Feb 2007. I will await the response. Cheers, Chris. CONTRACTS WITH SOFTWARE PROVIDERS GPs need to carefully scrutinise their contracts with software providers with a growing number of complaints that when a contract is terminated doctors are being charged to get back their patient records. The AMA recommends GPs do not sign contracts that they do not fully understand and to seek legal advice if necessary. At the very least, make sure any contract with a software provider contains provisions that: at the end of the contract all data will be fully portable at no extra cost; the records will be stored using software that is readily available at a reasonable cost; the records remain at all time your property and no lien or security may be taken over them; you will always be able to access the records and the service provider cannot take any action that might hinder your capacity to treat patients; and the software provider will indemnify you for any loss or damage you might sustain from not being able to access the records.
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