Outsourcing Health IT: Should Doctors Cut the Cord?

In an era of rising costs and dwindling access to experts, IT is untethering doctors from patients' physical presence. Already, health care organizations are turning to distant practitioners to interpret radiographs and even to monitor intensive care units.

Such practices are not unique opportunities in niche markets, said Robert Wachter, a medical-safety expert at UCSF Medical Center, but the "first salvos" in an escalating trend.

Many tasks no longer need to be performed by a highly trained expert in the same room, or even in the same country, as a patient.

"IT was built to facilitate the ability of existing providers to do their work better and faster," Wachter said. But once the technology to record, store, and send digital images became commonplace, it revealed unanticipated applications.

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Its being done even now...
http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=f9a79d36e6f10e72&cat=a1e025da3c02ca7c

After all, they're outsourcing everything else, and even Bill "Cat Killer" Frist can make a diagnosis without actually seeing the patient, so why not?

Specifically, it is heading to India.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2143614

Soon, persons with HIV and AIDS will be told to leave the country for treatment. Then, it will be persons with cancer. Eventually, HMOs will decide that it is cheaper to just ship people to third world countries than it is to pay for dialysis, chemotherapy, diabetes medication or any other expensive long-term health issue.

Welcome to *'s vision of "healthcare tourism."

I have immediately concerns about records management and patient privacy.

HIPAA only applies if the records are kept domestically, and with the outsourcing of healthcare to India (along with everything else), you won't have to worry about compliance with HIPAA...


Oh, wait... you mean you want privacy with that healthcare? :D