A Stick in Good Health

Greetings and welcome to Wednesday's edition of A Stick in Good Health. Today we explore a common scenario where The Smart Med Card really shines through - Enjoy!

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You Ask Me Why and I'll Say Why Not

In order to fulfill my requirements for The Smart Med Card, I need to spend a lot of time on Google, Facebook, Addictomatic (news stories) and talking to business owners, EMTs, First Responders, Firefighters - holy-wha! It's a lot of work, but, I get a lot of very diverse views and opinions from the vast number of people I need to interact with on a given day. Thus, thanks to my daily duties, I have compiled a little FAQ of my own for The Smart Med Card. Remember, you can learn a lot from other peoples intentions, mistakes and misconceptions!

The price - it seems a little out of reach for me at this time.
The truth is, no it isn't. I'm famous for being blunt and to the point, so here it is. The typical family of 4 will spend about $25 twice a week eating at fast-food restaurants. That comes out to around $2600 a year - on junk food[1]. If you cut out just one week of fast-food trips and instead provide a healthy home-made meal, you could easily pay for this card; something that may actually save your life. It's all about priorities.

I'm healthy and really not too concerned about any medical emergency treatment.
Here's a questions to you - are you allergic to Penicillin? It's fairly-common and it's not known unless you are introduced to it in the first place. Are you allergic to the tetanus shot, peanuts...etc; and if 'not', are you sure? You see, WHEN something may happen which requires medical-aid you better be ready for the barrage of treatments, pokes, prods and interactions you will be part of during said treatment. If you don't know your health well enough and those providing treatment can't get the information they really need - then your situation can accelerate from not to holy-panda in two-seconds flat! Also, what about conditions that you treat such as headaches, colds, depression...etc. These medications when mixed with provided treatment could result in an acute case of death.

I can just transfer my records to my new care provider. Why isn't that enough?
Aha - personal anecdote! I, the webmaster and Social Media Marketeer am about 3 months away from having my second daughter! The thing is, my location right now is not my 'hometown'. We are actually only 2 months into our relocation. Anyway, my wife had a doctor checkup a while back and in preparation we completed her medical records requisition form and sent it out - allowing plenty of time for her records to be transferred. Well surprise, life just doesn't play well with others. The doctors still didn't have my wife's information when we arrived and the head nurse was quite irritated as we couldn't answer the questions she needed; not even about phone-numbers and addresses of our medical campus back home. It was a bit depressing being admonished about not keeping track of our information. I really wish I had this card then, or at least had written some of that information down instead of assuming our records would just be where the needed to. So, even if you just use the The Smart Med Card for keeping track of your care-providers, a few addresses, phone-numbers, allergies and medications you could not only make it easy for any other doctor you visit to provide the best care, but paperwork becomes much easier to fill out accurately.

I hear about these bracelets and IDs that look like jewelery and are just as helpful to First Responders. Why is this wallet-card any better?
It is not my place to tell you what you need to do, but it is my place to give you the information to help you make the best choice. The jewelery you see will often alert First Responders of a condition you have and perhaps an emergency contact. That is generally an OK concept, but in terms of mitigating error in treatment, getting a hold of medical records if you are not brought to your hospital and are in critical condition or locating other emergency contacts if your initial contact is not reachable, then in reality this device does not have a viable success rate in actually saving your life. Did you know that if you are female and you have a medical ID necklace the most likely scenario will be that it won't be seen due to fear of personal invasion. These devices are also incapable of alerting what medications you are on and when you most-likely took your last dose - all very important information needed to provide adequate care.

So, there's a little but more information for you to process and perhaps shine a little more light onto why The Smart Med Card should be in your wallet.


Sources:
[1] M, Kevin, 'How Much Money Can You Save by Not Eating Out, February 28, 2010, Accessed August, 30 2011 http://outofyourrut.com/blog/2010/02/28/how-much-money-can-you-save-by-not-eating-out/

A Stick in Good Health

Good Monday everybody! So, sometimes the news is just a bit too slow and topics just aren't substantial enough or are a bit too difficult to get a good blog post right now, so I turned to my inner-child and thought - HEY - we need some good humor and life-lessons on using your Smart Med Card. So, welcome to The Smart Med Card's A Stick in Good Health. Click on the images to get a better view! Today's Topics:

The Smart Med Card vs Medical ID Jewelery:

How many health conditions do you really have once you think about it?

Be sure to visit http://www.thesmartmedcard.com to get yours now!

At the Head of the Pack

I do say that there is little doubt in my mind that you have come across similar concepts and design implementations that mirror The Smart Med Card, but, not all smart USB cards are created equal. Today, we will look at why The Smart Med Card is really the only smart choice.

No Software Intended
The Smart Med Card contains no software. Our competitors felt compelled to create an elaborate set-up that will require software to run on your computer. But, in efforts to cut costs and customers, the software used doesn't play well between differing operating systems and older operating systems. So, those of you with incompatibility are left out - how does that help you? If the Smart Med Card ever creates a software version, it will still function equally as well for the widest audience. Our promise!

Portable Means 'Portable'
These devices, first of all, are USB interfaced, meaning, if your computer has a USB port, then the USB insert is going to fit. So, if USB works the same on every system then why not have your device run on that computer too? WOHOO! The Smart Med Card is two-for-two. When using your Smart Med Card, you only need the internet. Even if you can not save to your device for some-reason you can still make changes to your data (without even having the card near you) and download your papers later. You fill in The Smart Med Card HIPAA-complient web-forms on their site and your data will be highly-secured and stored/downloadable as PDF. During card-use, as long as a computer has a PDF reader then all is well (it's rare to find a computer without a reader and all medical personnel who utilize this device will have one).

Extensibility Means Survival
Our competitors, in their infinite-unwisdom, don't seem to be watching the news - otherwise, they would know to start with the basics and build with the Electronic Health Records (EHR) evolution. This way they would know how and when to integrate portions of the EHR with their device, rather than re-engineering their device (something that rarely works).

Now, The Smart Med Card is three-for-three! The construction of the card allows you to create only the necessary Portable Personal Health Record that is essential for any Medical Personnel to make the critical decisions for stabilization and preparation for long-term treatment. Your more substantial medical history will appear on your device either once the connections to your EHR can be safely and securely implemented or you retrieve your medical documentation and on your own scan your documents into PDF. No one else give you this level of control.


The Smart Conclusion
The Smart Med Card is truly the easiest, most portable and most extensible device; one that will easily adapt to the changing structure of EHR and our changing healthcare needs. It will always remain on the cutting-edge and will take the best care of you, whenever and wherever.

visit http://www.thesmartmedcard.com to learn more!

Electronic Health Records 101

Alright - so we talk about Electronic Health Records, the direction of healthcare and the technology which encapsulates the medical field, but, it must be noted that a lot of the terms we throw at you have rather verbose descriptions which are important to understand in order to appreciate what's to come. So, class, welcome to The Smart Med Card's Thirst Thursday: Drink Up!

Electronic Health Records (EHR)

 

When you have visited a care provider, whether it be a hospital, physician, clinic...etc, a record of that visit was kept. That record contained the detailed outline of your status of health, treatments, medications and so on. That record, though, was unique to the care provider, and existed no-where outside of that institution. This data would be stored on some sort of storage unit (generally a Networked Computer Server) where it could be retrieved and edited, again, only within that institution. So, each visit, within each department, a new record would be created and entered into the system. This concept worked well for monitoring and storing data, but did not work well for creating useable, singleton reports of a patient's history. Here is what I mean:

Figure 1: Pre-EHR [1]

If you look to the left at Figure 1: Pre-EHR [1], you will see, on the far left, a line of data silos (yes, like grain silos). Each silo represents a particular aspect or 'chunk' of an institution that keeps records on you. So, you have labs, nursing, procedures..etc keeping their own record sets on you. This method of storage is great in terms of efficiency in editing and maintaining your records within a particular 'chunk', but, when a complete patient profile needs to be created to determine effect of treatment or within research and data analysis, there is no easy solution. On the right side of this image it tells us that a patient profile is created by logging into separate interfaces for each silo [1].

Figure 2: EHR [1]

With respect to the concept of EHR as we are hearing about it today, here is what they are talking about. Looking at Figure 2: EHR [1] at the left, we again have the silo concept (far left) where each 'chunk' of an institution is keeping records on you (this time using a system-wide patient ID), but this time EHR software, along with an institution-wide unified vocabulary, allow for the both the gathering and formatting of a patients complete history in one location (no separate interface for each silo). A unified vocabulary means that each time a record is created in some location of an institution, they will use terminology/codes to create your record so anyone else in a separate department can access that information using the same terminology/codes. This way, a single large-scale software program can create different views of a patients complete profile as well as allow for unified data research and statistical analysis [1].

So, to conclude, what we mean by EHR, are not the separate records on a patient stored on computers, but rather, we are talking about the large-scale infrastructure required to collect and maintain all of a patients records in such a way that data can be searched, entered, maintained and studied in a single location within a single application.

Sources Cited:
[1]MITRE Center for Enterprise Modernization. 2006. Electronic Health Records Overview. McLean, Virginia. (PDF version of document downloaded August 25, 2011).

College Shopping List Addendum: The Smart Med Card

To those of you with College-bound children I say congratulations! The fact that they are going, taking the initiative to better their future, should make you so proud! This is the time where they put the values and work-ethic you worked so hard to instill to the test. But, I do make one request, one that never seems to be handled in the detail it deserves:

Medical Emergency Contingency Plans
Scenario: Your child, on their way to Campus from their dorm, gets bumped at a cross-walk by a car taking a corner (I've seen this many times at my Alma Mater) and is rendered unconscious and in critical condition from a head-wound (sorry to be taking this to a level you don't want, but it's necessary). You, as a parent, perhaps States apart are listed as the primary contact and only you can point medical personnel treating your child to the primary care physician and medical records back home.

The condensed process of events:

• Campus, State, or local police, Fire/Rescue and Medical First Responders will be called to the scene. The determination of critical-condition is noted. During the time of assessment, ID and any medical information is sought out. One of two things may happen
• Your child has their campus ID and your contact information can be obtained.
• Your child has no ID on them and no one around can ID your child. Time is of the essence and your child is set to transport as John/Jane Doe.  
• NOTE: This is a tipping point as to whether Medical Care will either aid or exacerbate the situation based on lack of Medical History. Deadly drug interactions, allergic reactions...etc can be caused by supplying rudimentary care during transport.

• Your child is now in the care of the local hospital, is finally IDd and life-support continues. BUT, they will need medical records from their primary care provider, which could take hours between request-to-reception, hours that may fall outside the time-window your child has to survive.

You see, most actions that lead to a positive result in your child's chance of survival comes from acquired medical history. In fact, if your child carried their medical and health history on them, the amount of 'work' and 'guess-work' that has to be done at the scene by responders can be mitigated. They are left with educated decisions and an established plan-of-action!

As a parent, it is your job to instill work-ethic, the ability to make good decisions and teach them the tools and trade of safety and well-being. If you consider the fact that The Smart Med Card can contain every bit of information that your hospital has - what better going-away gift, gift of care and gift of love, could you give then a tool that will last a life-time and could very well be the one factor that leads to their survival during an Emergency. No matter where your child is in this world, they will continually be able to add to and update their Smart Med Card. No matter where in the world your child is, this card will be useable during an Emergency.

So, parents, of all the College-survival tools you may be considering getting for your child, how about considering one that could save their life. Remember, emergencies are not an IF, they are a WHEN, so prepare your children now!

The Smart Med Card: Keeping You Safe in More Ways Than You Realize

That's right everybody - we're Two For Two on the re-posts har har har. My eyes and ears across the county, in association with The Smart Med Card(r), are nice enough to keep me informed when news breaks, and after reading, re-reading, and reading again for good measure the article sent to me yesterday afternoon, I have formulated the perfect Public Service Announcement about your Medical Records.

You unlock this door with the keys of ctrl+(home). Beyond it is another dimension - a dimension of sound, a dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You're moving into a land of both ones and zeros, of things and ideas; of 'OH FIRETRUCK - WHY ARE MY MEDICAL RECORDS ON GOOGLE? You've just crossed over into the uh-oh zone. " 

Are you prepared to pick up the pieces and suffer the repercussions of your life becoming available online to employers, insurance agencies, blackmailers and scammers via information-leaks? You see, your medical records, whether you like it or not, will be electronically available by 2014, but you have options. Either you take control or someone else will. Do you trust large, third-party vendors and businesses to keep your information safe more-so than yourself? Think carefully before you make this decision.

Ok, my nerdy-deed of the day is done. Here's the story.

'Until recently, medical files belonging to nearly 300,000 Californians sat unsecured on the Internet for the entire world to see.' [1]

Further along the line we see:

'The personal data was discovered by Aaron Titus, a researcher with Identity Finder who then alerted Hecht's firm and The Associated Press. He found it through Internet searches, a common tactic for finding private information posted on unsecured sites.

The data were "available to anyone in the world with half a brain and access to Google," Titus says.

Titus says Hecht's company failed to use two basic techniques that could have protected the data — requiring a password and instructing search engines not to index the pages. He called the breach "likely a case of felony stupidity."' [1]

You need to understand that you do have control over who gets access to your records. Those 300,000 people could have taken control of their medical information and mitigated this whole ordeal with only the cost of The Smart Med Card.

The Smart Med Card is a device that is as secure as YOU make it. It allows you to manage your Electronic Health Records on a very secure (validated, mind you) website. Best of all, the card's content is only viewable to those you give access to. Without The Smart Med Card and your consent to manage your own health, you could very well be setting yourself up for the devastation from the mistakes that WILL happen (I promise - as a Computer Engineer I know that there are going to be a lot of issues that won't be noticed unless something bad has happened). I highly suggest you read the full article posted below. 2014 is not far off, and if you don't want to get into the crossfire of the mishaps and mayhem from the Medical Record format switch, I highly suggest you re-evaluate your spending priorities. What's a few dollars now compared to potential thousands later on when you are trying to pick up the pieces of your 'open-book' life?

Source:
[1]Robertson, Jordan. "New data spill shows risk of online health records." USA Today | Tech. USA Today, 22Aug. 2011. Web. 23 Aug. 2011. <http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/story/2011/08/New-data-spill-shows-risk-of-online-health-records/50086552/1>.