| Title | Electronic Health Records, Medical Research, and the Tower of Babel |
| Author(s) | Rebecca D. Kush, Ph.D., Edward Helton, Ph.D., Frank W. Rockhold, Ph.D., and C. David Hardison, Ph.D. |
| Source | NEJM, Vol. 358, No. 16, Pages 1738-1740 |
| Publication Date | 4/17/2008 |
| Abstract | We can travel almost anywhere in the world and find a machine that will dispense local currency, taking the money from our home account with the use of a bank card. Yet, when we go from a primary care physician to a specialist in our home town, we must begin at square one, providing the new doctor's office with all our demographic and medical information, often by completing paper forms. If we were traveling abroad and needed access to our health information, we would face formidable difficulties. Financial institutions have for years developed and used standards for the electronic exchange . . . |