From Fitbit To The Newsfeed: Curating Patient Records In The Internet Era

Desperate to land a gig, the Blues Brothers chat up the barkeep’s wife at Bob's Country Bunker, asking her what type of music they usually have. “Oh, we got both kinds,” she answers.  “We got country and western.”

I hear basically the same response in health care all the time, particularly around technology. Everyone seems to think that the end game for humanity is a single database that has all care documented in it. Picture that historic perforated printer paper – only digital. Then picture yourself as a doctor, trying to take in a patient’s ambulatory and inpatient care on this seemingly endless chronological chart and coordinate nursing home care based on it.

This is a very bad idea and extremely myopic.  Every bit of your care should be documented and connected. Documentation should start at the Fitbit and run through the office visits, the screenings, the laboratories, into the hospitals, through skilled nursing then into your home for palliative care, ending with a scotch on your favorite bluff in your last days...