Before the break, our classroom discussions focused on information networks and search. The Internet allows access to tons of information, however the underlying structure of that information can play a critical role in improving – or making worse – its own usefulness. Search engines such as Google and Yahoo have enjoyed meteoric rises because of the utility they offer in sorting through the tangled knot of information on the internet and making it useable. They have also made money on their ability to direct traffic to specific sites for a fee. The key service provided is one of matching information sought with information retrieved, and it depends on a carefully constructed set of databases and programs.

Google, Microsoft, and other pioneers of the content desired to content provided matching (aka search) industry are focusing these services in other contexts than just the internet. One of their most ambitious projects tackles the health care industry’s notorious difficulties with record keeping. This effort is reported on in a CNN Money article (republished from Investor’s Business Daily). http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/IBD-0001-23934810.htm The various companies developing tools for this effort want to collect patient data about prior conditions and health characteristics and link that information through algorithms to data available about side-effects, latest research, and more. The goal would be to provide patients and their doctors with a complete picture of health and one which would be transferable across state borders and doctor specialties.

The staggering cost of health care in America would benefit from the adaptation of national data standards and electronic collaboration. The article cites a study where hospitals were able to cut costs by 6% and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations due to lack of information. It further projects national health care costs to fall by 4% to 8% if the practice of electronic record systems becomes more wide spread. Currently only about 20% of doctors use this program.

Massachusetts is considering a law that would required all health care providers to convert to electronic records by 2015. This daunting task is also a business opportunity for some, as reported in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette News at http://www.telegram.com/article/20080323/NEWS/803230321/. The article also cites a Rand Corp. study from 2005 that if all US Hospitals and doctors converted to electronic records $77 Billion could be saved. The study also predicts the elimination of 200,000 bad drug reactions per year. Studies such as this have prompted the Massachusetts action.

One final article in the Australian newspaper The Age reports on that government’s efforts to implement a similar policy. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/database-to-link-patients-and-doctors/2008/03/24/1206207012399.html The savings and health potentials of switching to electronic networks for medical information are taking hold globally. The effort is extrodinarily costly in the short-term, especially for smaller practices, however the investment is beneficial for office practices, doctor workload, and patient health. It will be exciting to see how the move to integrated, organized networks improves the health care industry.