An Increased Need for Cyber-Security

 

The Department of Homeland Security tracked 37,000 cyber-attacks in 2007 alone.  US companies have lost more than a trillion dollars worth of intellectual property as a result of these cyber-attacks.  Clearly, this has become a major issue and one the government will need to address soon and as a whole.  Last year, a simulated cyber-attack proved the severity and difficulty in restoring normal operations.  In order to effectively address this issue, the following article calls for a large scale collaboration between both private and public sectors.

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Bangkok, Thailand: The Mecca for Medical Tourism

 

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the rise in medical tourism.  It is estimated that by next year, 6 million US citizens will have traveled abroad for medical treatment.  The travel economy is seeing an impact in hundreds of millions of dollars.  But where are all these people traveling to? Apparently, it’s to Bangkok, Thailand—“the mecca for most medical tourism patients.”  Bumrungrad International Limited, which is based in Bangkok, owns and operates more than 70 health care facilities and treats more than 400,000 foreign patients per year. 

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The Health Information Technology (Health IT) Policy Committee’s Agenda

Formed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, two Federal Advisory Committees met last week for the first time to begin guiding the US government in the advancement of our health information technology (HIT).  The HIT Policy Committee’s priorities fall under the following six areas:

• Establish meaningful use
• Certification
• Infrastructure
• Privacy and security
• Health information exchange
• Public health

All of these are necessary elements towards ensuring a solid HIT infrastructure.

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Portion of Stimulus Package Will Create a Nationwide Network for Medical Records

 

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), comprised of 350 technology vendors and 20,000 members, is one of the key proponents of creating a nationwide network for medical records.  This would include HIMSS certifying any electronic health-record equipment receiving stimulus funding.  HIMSS is currently trying to convince policymakers that this system could save tens of billions of dollars.  The government has estimated a savings of $17 billion by converting to electronic health records. 

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Electronic Medical Records Not an Easy Task

 

If all goes according to plan, the $19 billion set aside to expand health information technology should result in lower costs and a reduction of errors, while allowing patients to have more control over their personal health records.  One of the biggest challenges President Obama faces is the fact that American medicine is far behind other countries in utilizing digital technology.  Once the electronic medical records have been implemented, physicians will need to be properly trained as many of them find the transition difficult to adjust to.  Click below for a full article on some of the challenges President Obama faces:

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Medical Tourism a Popular Option for Treatment Not Available in the States

 

Medical tourism isn’t just for cheaper health care.  Sometimes, it’s for treatment that’s only available abroad.  For example, stem-cell-based treatments are hard to come by in America and are rarely covered by insurance companies.  However, limitations are fewer abroad, resulting in quite a few Americans seeking this particular type of treatment last year.  Overall, 1.5 million Americans traveled abroad last year to seek health care.    

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Recent Poll Shows that Many Uninsured Americans are Interested in Medical Tourism

 

A recent Gallup Poll found that many uninsured Americans would be willing to seek health care abroad if they believed that the quality of care would be the same.  The survey also found that one of the biggest variables in determining whether a patient would seek care abroad is health insurance.  Another is how confident they are in the quality of the treatment.  The poll surveyed 5,050 adults throughout the US.  Across regions, Westerners were most likely to seek treatment abroad, while Midwesterners were least likely.

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U.S. Companies Latch Onto Medical Tourism

 

It was only a matter of time before employers realized the potential in savings from offering to pay for their employees to seek medical treatment abroad.  Hannaford Brothers, the New England supermarket chain, was one of the first to attempt this by offering to pay for their employees in need of knee and hip replacements to travel to Singapore for the procedure.  Despite offering to waive all deductibles and co-payments and pay transportation costs for the patient and a companion to travel to and from Singapore, not a single employee has taken up the offer.

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Congress to Define “Meaningful Use” of Electronic Health Records

 

It’s simply not enough to spend billions of dollars to convert patients’ health records to an electronic format.  The goal is to then make “meaningful use” of them that will significantly improve health care.  In order to achieve this goal, Congress has left defining the term “meaningful use” to the Department of Health and Human Services.  Joining the discussion is the Association of Medical Directors of Information Systems, who are the professional organization behind actually putting the electronic records to use.  To help facilitate this, they recently launched a Web site.

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American Medical Tourists Invade Other Countries

 

For an American used cars salesman without any health insurance, medical tourism was a scary option, but the only one nonetheless.  Ward Styner of Yakima, Washington needed a hip replacement or he would have to quit his job due to unbearable pains.  Treatment in the States was too expensive, but going abroad seemed potentially unsafe. 

This is the case for many Americans.  On the one hand you’ll have your doctor telling you that you should seek treatment here, but at the same time have a doctor in another country convince you to travel there—each concerned about their own interest rather than the patient’s.  Nevertheless, Ward ended up travelling to Malaysia, as many more people are doing, and found that he was “treated like gold.” 

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