"Give Up Your Data to Cure Disease"

          Emily Cocco

In his article, “Give Up Your Data to Cure Disease,” David Agus argues why patients and physicians alike should be more on board with sharing medical records through Electronic Health Records (EHR). Although there are obvious privacy issues involved with sharing medical records, sharing them could help physicians and researchers all over the world notice trends that could lead to medical breakthroughs.

            The most important point that Agus makes in favor of releasing medical data is that it can be used to help find cures and treatments to various diseases. Already existing medicines could be effective in treating all sorts of ailments that we don’t know of yet because the data is not out there yet to make the connections. For example, after reviewing 1,400 patient medical records, researchers at the MD Anderson Cancer Center were able to find a correlation between beta-blockers and survival rates of patients with ovarian cancer (Agus). These findings have increased the likelihood of survival for countless women, and it would not have been possible if the data in those medical records had not been available for research.

            Obviously many people are nervous about making their medical information available online. With all of the data hacking scandals that have been occurring recently, people are becoming much more careful about whom they release their information to. It’s understandable why people wouldn’t want their medical data to be available to the public. Medical information could affect employment decisions, insurance applications, and even social interactions. However, in this case the benefits outweigh the costs.

            Recently the government has gotten involved in promoting the use of EHR. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created incentive programs for hospitals and clinics to use EHR (cms.gov). I think it’s important to understand that the U.S. government supports the modernization of the American Medical System. Making all patient data digital will not only help research, but it will also make it easier for physicians to find needed information, for patients to send medical records to other physicians, and to update information.

            Although I agree with Agus that the benefits of making medical data digital outweigh the risks, I wish he had gone further into discussing out to minimize those risks. For example, could the data be kept anonymous to a degree so that researchers wouldn’t have access to patient names? Also, he makes the point that people are willing to give out other types of information, such as financial data, but not medical records. I understand the point he is making, but obviously the release of medical records could have much different (in some cases much more serious) repercussions than the release of financial information. Lastly, Agus brings up the fact that many medical professionals do not like EHS because they are often unreliable and difficult to use. I would have liked to read more about how the systems could be updated so that medical professionals with all different computer skill levels would be able to use them.

Works Cited:

Agus, David B. “Give Up Your Data to Cure Disease.” The New York Times. 6 Feb. 2016. Web.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/07/opinion/sunday/give-up-your-data-to-cure-disease.html?_r=2

Cms.gov. “Electronic Health Records (EHS) Incentive Programs.” Cms.gov. 26 Jan. 2016. Web.

URL: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/index.html