There’s no reason why digitized medical records cannot be kept safe. With proper computer security, your records, with your name attached, would be available only to the people who have access to them now – your doctor, for instance – plus emergency medical technicians who have the proper access code.
Predictor: McDonald, Michael
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Joe Flower explains the types of changes that could come in health care through the use of networked computing, quoting Michael McDonald, a specialist in networked computing issues and public health. Flower writes: ”Michael McDonald of Communications and Computer Applications in Public Health (CCAPH) shares … concerns (‘The privacy and confidentiality of all health records must be maintained’), even as he dismisses their threat: ‘That’s like saying “Cars are dangerous.” Of course they are. That’s why we have brakes, stoplights, doorlocks, and ignition keys. There’s no reason why digitized medical records cannot be kept safe. With proper computer security, your records, with your name attached, would be available only to the people who have access to them now – your doctor, for instance – plus emergency medical technicians who have the proper access code.’ McDonald points out that, at present, individual medical records are comparatively easy to steal by ordinary, non-computer means. ‘What would be a lot easier to steal by computer is population stuff – aggregations from vast numbers of records, such as lists of all HIV-positive people. The answer issimply not to aggregate that type of information with the names attached.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Privacy/Surveillance
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: The Other Revolution in Health Care: Leave Hillary and Bill Out of It … The Health Care System is Going to Change Drastically Over the Next Decade
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.01/healthcare_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney