Christopher Feahr wrote: >I'm not familiar with the "Australia Card", but I agree that unique, >global identifiers are required for patients. Americans, however are >very resistant to the idea of being uniquely identified in almost any >context. There is a deeply ingrained belief that there is safety in >anonymity and some sort of inherent danger in absolute identity. I >think the basis for the global fear is that the theoretical computer >security will fail... or could fail. > This ingrained belief in Australia I think is due to lack of trust more than anything. Australia was a nation of convicts and rough soldiers once, many of them Irish. What better combination could there be for a deeply held distrust of authority?!
But - the psychology is probably different with the EHR. When we talk "Australia Card" (insert your country name here), what the population sees is a national id card but with no reasons attached - no stated concrete benefit or system. So they see it as the "thin edgeof the wedge". But if the government comes along with a persuasive EHR solution and can show the 20 benefits to consumers, and yes, there will need to be a national identifier *for this purpose* then I think people will view it differently. (Note to oppressive governments: don't try to introduce identity cards on their own; make them ride on the back of something else;-) - thomas beale - If you have any questions about using this list, please send a message to d.lloyd at openehr.org
