Sometimes, a phrase grabs my attention. For example: Data Liquidity. Doesn't that sound nice? The gentle gurgle of data as it flows by, over the broad flat rocks, in the sunlight, a tadpole perched at the edge of the rock, waiting to slip into the stream... Ah.
In this case, I was reading an article in the Tuesday Washington Post's Health section (which is a section I usually avoid, as they like to have articles about what you eat, and how whatever you like is bad for you, and not only bad, but really bad; also, why just because you're asymptomatic doesn't mean you aren't at risk, and... you get the idea. Yuck). In this case, though, they'd baited the hook with a title I liked ' New Ways to Manage Health Data', with a subtitle to the effect that there are some people pushing to put health records online. I generally like that idea -- electronic medical records intrigue me. I know there are downsides -- including some that didn't occur to me, but as soon as I read the article, I thought oh, yeah...--"There are many, many pitfalls about personal health records," said Texas psychiatrist Deborah Peel, founder of Patient Privacy Rights, a nonprofit that wants Americans to retain exclusive control over their medical records. "Giving more information about yourself to your health insurer is probably the worst possible thing to do." Many online PHR firms share information with data-mining companies, which then sell it to insurers and other interested parties, Peel said." -- but the idea of easy accessibility and portability attracts me.
Interesting article.
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