Clarity Health Journal: Food Diary app

Consumer Health Application

You are in a stretcher being taken to the Hospital Emergency Room.  A business trip or vacation  has been interrupted, you are away from home, no one you know or knows you is around. You’re unable to communicate with the paramedics even if they could understand you; you’re just trying to  keep breathing. Where is your health information: your medication records; your most recent doctors visit; lab results? Even your emergency contact, blood type and known drug allergies?

Will digital medical records save your life?

Now imagine you have an a consumer health application, a simple health card is in your wallet. It contains your emergency contact, blood type, allergies, health insurance and a web site to access your full health information. You could also have an  Emergency report with you that you printed before going on your trip. All this information could save your life.

All your family health info

The majority of us leave our health information in the hand of professionals, our doctor, the clinic or hospital. Most times this is enough; our family doctor can fax or send details to a specialists, the hospital or clinic will sent lab results or clinic notes to our family doctor. All your health information is safe and secure in the hands of the medical professionals you deal with regularly. But when an unexpected event occurs, this safe and secure health information is not available to the paramedics or doctors tiring to save your life.

Your health information at your finger tips

Maintaining your personal health information gives you and your family control. Keeping a family health record will give you a secure, safe and comprehensive set of health information that can be used to keep you healthy.  And when you need it it could provide a voice that is missing during an emergency situation.

Keep track, keeping score and continuous improvement

I’ve been playing golf for over 20 years now. Let me qualify that because in reality I’ve only been swing a club and hit balls for the past 19 years, I started actually playing the sport of golf this year. It’s only when you start keeping a scorecard that you are actually playing golf. By doing so you get the real appreciation on how you are doing and hopefully improving.

This revelation occurred just this past Sunday. For the past eight years my wife has picked up the sport of golf.  Her and three  long time friends took lessons and began to play each Sunday morning. For the past four years I been the spare if one of the foursome couldn’t make it. I didn’t keep score since I was just a filler. The past two years, as people moved and changed careers, I became a regular on the tour. This Sunday morning as I stared down the long par 5 I actually felt that this 465 yard was manageable. The distance hasn’t changed since we started playing the course but on this day I visualized my 230 yard drive, my 160 yard fairway shot then my chip and putt, and I said I could do this; well it was 2 chip shots and 2 putts; it was a boogie not a birdie. Keeping track made all the difference.

Our wandering ways

We travel constantly at a speed of 30 km/s (180,000 km/hr), it takes 365.24 days for us to orbit the sun.  Our distance traveled in a year is significant in such astronomical terms; over 150,000,000 km or more depending on the orbit and earth’s tilt.  Compared to this journey through space our travels on the surface of the earth are minuscule.

Travel around the sun

Clarity Healthcare interview at HIMSS10

Attending HIMSS10 in Atlanta afforded us the opportunity to speak with Medicexchange.

HIMSS10 Video of Clarity Healthcare Solutions CEO, Saverio Rinaldi.

Cost of Healthcare

Canadians have universal healthcare, yet we still need health insurance. The US health reform debate is all about the cost of healthcare. The truth of the matter is that the aging baby boomers will demand the same healthcare in the US that citizens in Canada now enjoy. Universal healthcare will soon be the rally cry of “grey power” activists. It doesn’t mean private insurance companies will disappear, they will still be needed to cover costs that are not part of government programs.

With this knowledge, you may ask why then are the republicans in the states against the health reform bill? Of course, it’s not true that the GOP is against health reform; you doubt this? then check out Newt Gingrich’s blog and organization to promote better quality medicaid and medicare. The truth is that if President Obama and the Democrats deliver on their promise of healthcare reform the Republicans will become irrelevant to this debate for the next election cycle. And all they can run on is the negative of health reform.

Off to HIMSS in Atlanta

If its spring it must be HIMSS. This annual event gathers the world health IT experts together in one place for the preeminent health information management trade show. This year the host city is Atlanta, the jewel of the south, hot-lanta. I can’t wait to experience this city and all it has to offer.

Sav and Whale Shark in Galapagos

On Saturday, Feb 27th we arrive in Atlanta and begin our trip with a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest in North America. Between 3:30 and 4 pm we experience the aquarium from the inside out. Scuba tanks go on for a swim with the Gentle Giants; Whale Sharks, the largest fish of the oceans. Don’t worry they don’t bite; they are filter feeders eating mainly plankton. This is a wonderful experience, if you can - watch for us on the Georgia Aquarium webcam. Or even better if you are in Atlanta come and see us at the Aquarium.

On Sunday, I’ll be presenting at the Health IT Venture Fair. While not officially part of HIMSS it takes please as a precursor to the show. Sponsored and organized by Blank-Rome of Philadelphia and Howard Burke this event showcases innovative companies that are seeking venture capital, partners and growth opportunities. Over 30 venture capital firms participate to get a jump start on the trade show exhibitors.

Sunday evening the Canadian Trade Commissionaires are hosting a dinner for Canadian companies to meet with US companies. This match making helps Canadian companies doing business or planning to do business in the US to find partnerships.

Come visit Us at HIMSS Booth 1407

The official HIMSS start is Monday, the exhibits open at 12:30 and until 5:30 we will be at Booth 1407, meeting with interested organizations looking for health IT solutions. Another HIMSS tradition is the Canadian reception that brings together all the Canadian exhibitors and Canadian attendees. This is always a rousing event with cross-Canadian representation and Canadian beer, BC and Atlantic salmon, perhaps even Alberta beef.

The Consulate General breakfast on Tuesday is another excellent networking and educational event. With trade commissionaires from across the US doing their best to promote the Canadian companies at HIMSS.

From 10:30 am to 5:30 we can be found on the exhibition floor at Booth 1407.

After the HIMSS reception on Tuesday night, it’s off to the Woodfire Grill an Atlanta hotspot for dinner prepared by award winning Top Chef Kevin Gillespie.

co-Owner and Executive Chef Kevin Gillespie

A relaxing evening is planned with BBQ ribs and friends to raise a glass.

That leaves the last day of HIMSS with the exhibit floor going from 10:30 to 5:30. In the evening a spirited HIMSS reception bringing us full circle as we return to our starting point at the Georgia Aquarium. Unfortunately, this time they wouldn’t let us go for a swim, I asked.

New Years eHealth proposal

From 1997 to 2001 I experienced first hand the shortcomings of the Canadian healthcare system. Over this period my family saw the death of three close relatives. We experienced the fragmentation of the Ontario health care system. From community hospital to academic health sciences centre, private homecare and nursing care, cancer care centers and palliative care, each doctor and hospital maintained a health record, yet none had access to the information from the previous location. Blood work done one day would be repeated because the lab results were not shared between providers. New specialists would conduct the same interview done the previous day or just the same morning in a different clinic. The only full health record was what we, as a family, maintained. It kept us involved in the care process and we were able to inform new clinical staff with the details from previous visits saving time and money for us and the healthcare system. We were not the first family to experience nor the last, others have expressed similar frustration with medical records.

My background is not medical. My experience is in information technology. For two decades I worked in the financial sector developing software for banks, trust companies and credit unions. In the late nineties I deployed financial solutions, supported document scanning and presentment for cheque recognition and bill payment on the internet. The financial sector has benefited greatly from technology advancement, greater efficiency and performances. With my experience in IT and the eye-opening experience of the fragment healthcare system it was apparent that health information exchange could be and should be improved.

In 2001, with a strong team of developers we began the process of creating an eHealth solution. The Clarity Healthcare Framework was the starting point.

Clarity Healthcare Solution

Over this previous decade we deployed electronic form applications to collect patient assessments. These are used to measure quality of care in hospitals. The ultimate goal, to create a personal health application that would allow patients and their families to keep and monitor all the health details, a life-time health record. The Clarity Health Journal focuses on the patient and their family to help them manage and monitor their health.

There are challenges to maintaining a full and complete health record. You can start and keep your own information easily enough. You can maintain a blog or a website with the details of your diet, exercise and even medication, but what do you do about doctors’ notes, lab results or hospital visit details?

Health information exchange can be used to improve the overall health delivery. Easier access to health records means better quality health. Each doctor, hospital and clinic maintains health record for the patient, only the family maintains a fully holistic view of the personal health information.

Health Information Gap

While we do online banking and use ATMs around the world to withdraw cash from our bank accounts, pay bills with Paypal and other online services our health information is locked up in a filing cabinet someplace. We can’t access those records. Our caregivers have access to the record they created, but we have no way to access them or share them with family and friends involved in our care. Even when permission is granted to a spouse, partner or adult children; doctors or hospital administrators can still refuse access or prevent flow of some information needed for your care. 2010 needs to be the year we take control of our health information.

These days most patients have access to the internet in some form. Digital cameras, scanners and fax machines can be found in many homes. Larger percentages of patients have cellphones and computers. Technology is no longer a barrier for patients and their family. Still many doctors’ offices and hospitals still maintain paper records and written notes.

Back in 2001, I started a family history using a family tree maker software. Online I found resources that included ship manifest of 18th century that had been scanned, OCRed, categorized into a database. Old paper records hand written using quill pens are now indexed and searchable online. You can expect hospitals and doctors’ records could be as advanced as genealogy software makers. Technology can offer a solution to making paper health records available online very easily.

Ontario eHealth can easily offer a service to scan all health records and categorize the data for patients. The process doesn’t have to be a mega project. Each hospital can maintain a scanner to OCR records into a database. When a patient arrives for a new visit, if they already have a paper record the history can be scanned. New visit details would be collected electronically online. Within a very short period of time all patients health records would be online. Doctors offices could either scanner records internally or send out the records to a services bureau. Within 2 or 3 years a majority, if not all, records would be online. The resulting database would have both the images of the paper records plus the categories details of the electronic data. It would be indexed and searchable and could be made available to patients and their families to use.

The personal health record can then be enhanced with the individuals own data. Once online the patient and their family uses and share this info wherever they are, with doctors, hospitals and clinics. A truly universal healthcare system is possible.

Global eHealth access

When traveling we don’t normally take all of our health information with us. You may have some recent details on your prescriptions, but not much more. A friend told me that when he travels he usually runs for exercise, on his shoes he has a tag that contains his doctor’s name and phone number as well as the doctor’s cell phone. If my friend were to drop unconscious someone could contact his doctor and get help immediately…hopefully. While this medical emergency contact information is a start it doesn’t suffice for most people with serious health conditions.

It makes perfect sense for a healthy person to carry emergency contact information. Perhaps, it would be worthwhile to have more immediate info accessible to the emergency response person wherever you may be. Yet a simple slip of paper with information on it is not enough. How does someone know you have such a document in your pocket? Some solutions such as medic-alert have been used for individuals. A simple call to a toll-free number provides access to medical information using a call center services. Is there a better way?

Personal Healthcard can be used to access info during emergency

One solution to this issue is USB key technology. Why not use a USB Key? How many USB Keys do you own and how many have you misplaced or lost? Compare that with your credit card. You carry one or more of them in you wallet, purse or pocket. Even when lost you can easily get them replaced or reissued. Devices like a USB need a computer, credit cards just need card readers or scanners. And even without the computer or internet a smartcard can have information on it and in it that can still provide information when needed.

Many have compared eHealth with eCommerce and ATM banking. We can take a page from this domain and use the smartcard. This is used for credit and debit cards. A personal healthcard based on smartcard technology can store encrypted data about the individual and also have access to family members’ health details if needed. The card would have a photo for identification and a number and name to identify the person quickly. Yes, it would be required that the emergency response would have to have a card-reader to access the stored data on the card. The technology can even have information printed on the card, along with a Name, Health card number there can be an emergency phone number to a central agency.

The card can also have a 2-d barcode that can be scanned to reveal more details that may be needed by EMS and that the user would want to keep private form someone visually inspecting the card. Scanning the 2-D barcode could also direct the user to a website. With added security questions and login the site can provide access to a full health record. Add RFID and a biometric such as a fingerprint, retinal scan or DNA and you have a very secure mobile device for health information. This would eliminate individual hospital cards and allow global access to health details wherever you are.

Clarity Health Journal 2-D barcode

Such a solution could be used by anyone. The scanner and card-reader technology is readily available and easily deployed by EMS and hospital ER departments. It would reduce the stress related to remembering passwords and also make it easier in case of emergencies.

Anger is it good for our health?

Laughter is the best medicine, it has been said. But what of anger? Can it also provide the same release that humor can. Without anger we hold in our emotions and create worry and stress, therefore it makes sense that the release of anger will provide relief.

When we laugh we release endorphins that mask pain. The rush of adrenaline in our body from the release of anger has similar affect. Both provide a form of self-healing.

Can anger provide health relief?

We have special “anger management” courses that allow us to control our anger, but is this necessary? We need the release of anger to avoid our internal stewing of emotion. Otherwise we eat away at our own well being.

Our history shows that we retain evolutionary traits that allow humans to survive and thrive. We can see that most of us have healthy ways of dealing with anger. Those that don’t either die or end up in jail. Still there are many that retain anger and still live and pass on his anger to their off-spring. Does this prove that anger is an evolutionary trait that we humans need to survive?

It is often the young that show the greatest anger. Perhaps as we age we have less anger. Have we been socialized to mask the anger? Or are we dealing with it better?

Often the way our anger is manifest changes with age. As a child we release our anger through yelling, throwing tantrums and crying. With aging, some feel a decrease in the power of their youth. The need for power and the ability to regain that sense of presence can create other coping mechanisms. Young men may provide more physical anger, the older person dispense more violent verbal anger.

We all strive for happiness and good health, does anger have a role in achieving this?

Anger is Devastating