Medical Data on the Cloud

Let me tell you a story...

Poor Wade! Just landed in a foreign country on a business trip, he started feeling some chest pain around 11 pm. The hotel recommends the nearest hospital, and they arrange for transportation. Once with the doctor, he is disappointed to see the doctor's Basic English is terrible, and he is unable to explain the history of his pain.

Lucky for Wade, he has his "Digital Tag" on a convenient fashionable bracelet. Even better, the hospital has the proper scanner to read this Tag. Wade gives the Tag to the doctor. The doctor is now accessing the entire medical history of Wade, all the way back to the vaccinations he received when he was a toddler. Translated into the doctor's language, he is now reading the notes and medicine history from all the doctors Wade has seen over the past few years.

Noting his history with high cholesterol, he suspects a vascular issue with his heart, and schedules Wade for an immediate CT scan, as well as recommending the right medication that will not clash with recent medication he took last week. All this and they have barely spoken together.

Just imagine the benefits to Wade, having this "virtual" doctor with him wherever he goes, digital data available securely on the cloud. Imagine the hospital, not wasting time on various tests just to figure out what is wrong when they do not have the medical history. Worst, imagine prescribing the wrong medicine.

Why are we not funding this?