eHealth Initiative
If you didn’t catch the National Governors Association meeting on Health Care & Information Technology, 7/22/2007, I strongly recommend that you watch it. It’s in the video archive on the C-Span. Watch it a couple of times so that you can absorb what they are saying. The discussion centered around a national Shared Health Information Technology (HIT) system.
The initiative shifts the focus of medical care from the doctor-patient relationship to one of information collection and exchange among the providers of services so that everybody can have access to your medical record. In the new paradigm of Health IT, you are a “consumer” not a patient.
There are several critical aspects of the planning for the HIT system that should be understood by all. Click the down arrow read each item:
Legal Framework
In order to implement this system – and I’m calling it a single system because multiple systems that are networked together are in effect a single system – requires changes in the following areas:
Privacy
An electronic medical record that resides on a network connected to other networked systems will eliminate medical privacy altogether. Once implemented, there will be no such thing as medical record privacy. For all intents and purposes it will be public information there for the taking. Think of all the system break-ins and stolen data of recent years and you will understand how easy it will be to get your private information if somebody is of a mind to get it.
Licensure laws
Gov. Phil Bredesen talked about how the health care licensing laws would have to be changed because the plan is to allow ‘remote’ medicine and ‘Decision Support’. When he talked about it, he said ‘health care providers in other states’ but the real idea is to have “Dr. Punjab” in Calcutta as the remote “doctor”. This is already being done with radiological reports. They are transmitted to India so that the radiology ‘call center’ doctors can interpret the x-rays.
Coincidently – and fortunately, I happened to be listening to C-Span2’s coverage of the Senate yesterday. Senator Jeff Sessions brought an amendment to floor S.AMDT.2374 to S.1642 calling for a lowering of the academic standards for entry into U.S. medical schools. His reason was supposedly the need for more medical providers and keeping medical education dollars in the U.S. rather than having them go offshore to the Brand-X alleged medical schools in the Caribbean. This is a classic example of how an issue is presented in one framework when the real goal is something quite different. The real reason for lowering standards is because IBM and the other Information Technology companies are selling “Decision Support” systems to replace highly qualified doctors.
If you’ve had to call a software company for technical support in the past few years, you’ve had the ‘Decision Support’ experience. The idea is that experts can be replaced with clerks when they have a ‘Decision Support’ system. In the development of the knowledge base, the expert provides the Question & Answer sets and the logic path that theoretically allows the clerk to go through the same “thinking” process as an expert and he would arrive at the correct answer to solve the problem. If that doesn’t scare the hell out of you, try calling one of the large software companies for technical support – you’ll soon see what the ‘Decision Support’ process is about. (Garbage in – Garbage Out). And that’s the real reason for the lowering of standards to get into medical school. They are anticipating not needing as many “expert” physicians in the future. Bubba from the football team will be good enough.
Cost Savings and Quality Improvement
The collected data will reside in networked systems at the community, state, and national (and international) levels. The initiatives are supposed improve the quality of care for the “consumers” and reduce costs system wide. In reality, it will simply shift health care dollars from the pockets of providers to the information technology industry. The savings will come from replacing qualified doctors with less qualified people using “Decision Support” systems and shifting the focus of medical care from caring for the sick to caring for the healthy. This new way of looking at health care is a set up to ‘blame the victim’ with built in incentives for the health care provider to dump sick people because sick people will affect their performance ratings and as a result, their compensation.
Electronic Medical Records
Without a doubt, this is the most disturbing aspect of the presentation: shared electronic medical records. They aren’t satisfied with simply making your medical information virtually public, they want your DNA so that they can apply IBM’s analysis of your ‘risk factors’ relative to your lifestyle, DNA and medical history.
UN World Health Assembly – 2005
Resolutions
Recognizing the important role of State legislative and executive bodies in further reform of health-financing systems with a view to achieving universal coverage.
“The Health Metrics Network (HMN) is an innovative global partnership founded on the premise that better health information means better decision-making, which results in better health.”
Personalized Medicine is Human Experimentation
‘Nationalized – Shared network of Individualized medical records…
“Personalized genomic medicine… knowing genetics, background, behaviors and environmental factors which influence disease….individualized interventions to …..collectively improve the health of the population.
“We can create a genetic profile…By using the computerized health risk assessment, we can then combine the genetic information with an individual’s behaviors to understand their proclivities for actually developing disease…
FCC Rural Health Care Pilot Programs
FCC’s Universal Service Program for Rural Health Care Providers
The four Nationwide Health Information Network Consortia consist of the following organizations:
Accenture, working with Apelon, Cisco, CGI-AMS, Creative Computing Solutions, eTech Security Pro, Intellithought, Lucent Glow, Oakland Consulting Group, Oracle, and Quovadx. This group will work with the following health market areas: Eastern Kentucky Regional Health Community (Kentucky); CareSpark (Tennessee); and West Virginia eHealth Initiative (West Virginia).
CSC, working with Browsersoft, Business Networks International, Center for Information Technology Leadership, Connecting for Health, DB Consulting Group, eHealth Initiative, Electronic Health Record Vendors Association, Microsoft, Regenstrief Institute, SiloSmashers, and Sun Microsystems. This group will work with the following health market areas: Indiana Health Information Exchange (Indiana); MA-SHARE (Massachusetts); and Mendocino HRE (California).
IBM, working with Argosy Omnimedia, Business Innovation, Cisco, HMS Technologies, IDL Solutions, Ingenium, and VICCS. This group will work with the following health market areas: Taconic Health Information Network and Community (New York); North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (Research Triangle, North Carolina); and North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (Rockingham County, North Carolina).
Northrop Grumman, working with Air Commander, Axolotl, Client/Server Software Solutions, First Consulting Group, SphereCom Enterprises, and WebMD. This group will work with the following health market areas: Santa Cruz RHIO (Santa Cruz, California); and HealthBridge (Cincinnati, Ohio); University Hospitals Health System (Cleveland, Ohio).
(Text excerpts)
[How can we reduce costs with IT?] It is a new form of medicine. We prevent the progression of disease using IT prediction and prevention tools coupled with personalized genomic medicine. We’re doing a project at Mayo now with IBM which allows us to link the capabilities of knowing the genetics of each persons background along with their behavioral and environmental factors which in fact, influence the development of disease. In that fashion we can actually undertake individualized interventions that will make it less likely that any one person will suffer the ravages of a disease later on and collectively improve the health of the population – again as well as controlling costs. So this is the future of disease treatment. Very different than our current emphasis on acute care.
How might this work in reality from the perspective of prediction and prevention? With a simple buckle swab maybe even a simple blood test.. now even possible to do at home by obtaining a drop of dry blood and sending it to a laboratory, we can reconstitute it, we can create a genetic profile. By using the computerized health risk assessment, we can then combine the genetic information with an individual’s behaviors to understand their proclivities for actually developing disease that may not be evident. This allows us to do a physician-patient interaction that could occur with a computer – not in an office. The only way that I’m paid now to provide care is in the office. So this represents a substantial opportunity in terms of actually moving this capability forward.
In terms of acute episodes of care at Mayo Clinic, we are now using web-based protocols for our own employees to be able to access and guide their care for simple problems – upper respiratory infections, urinary track infections and the like can be managed just that way by individuals with the right guidance. Doesn’t require an office visit… doesn’t require coming into the clinic. But again, I don’t get paid for that as a physician. From an employer perspective, its a great advantage for us to do this because we manage to not only save the cost of the physician visit but improved the productivity of the employee – less time away from work.
Resistance likely to be “Consumers”
BE A RESISTER!
Ginny Wagner – “Identity Proofing”
Include all populations
Pay doctors for meeting performance goals
Using a computer system for ‘remote medicine’ will provide the opportunity for the population to be culled of “undesirables”.
The combination of “behavioral” information and “environmental” factors (i.e. location (ghetto), religion, ), plus DNA (genetic defects, race) will provide the selection criteria.
Populations of people can be selected for experimentation as well. Since the networked, shared medical information will be available on ALL citizens, the ‘selected’ population can be distributed in such a way that negative outcomes from the experimentation will be very hard – if not impossible to detect outside the research community.
California – Department of Managed Care
“Fined health plans (Plans) more than $986,000 for violations of the Knox-Keene Act in 2005 and $723,000 in 2004. Two of the more significant cases were a $200,000 fine to Kaiser for exposing patient information via its website and $250,000 to HealthNet for the underpayment of provider claims.”
Being Unhealthy Could Cost You Money
Clarian Health, the Indianapolis-based hospital system announced that starting in 2009, it will fine employees $10 per paycheck if their body mass index (BMI is over 30). Other finable ‘offenses’, if their cholesterol, blood pressure, and glucose levels are too high; Ditto if they smoke.
Governor Announces Creation of California Broadband Task Force
I just came from a conference on telemedicine where I saw a great example of how broadband can improve people’s lives. We have seen a doctor here in San Francisco examining one of the patients that is 100 miles away, and it’s done by video, and it is really extraordinary to see the using of broadband capabilities here. Technology like this is the future, and I always want California to lead the way. I mean, just of what we have seen—this can save money, this save time, and this can save lives.
I also want to recognize the leadership of TechNet. Cisco was, obviously, a founder and a proud member of TechNet, and none of this would have been possible without the great leadership from that organization. I know that our chief executive officer, John Chambers, would have loved to be here today; unfortunately he’s not, but I am honored to be here in his stead.
(John Chambers, Tech companies building bridges with China, IT World, Sept. 27, 2004
“Explaining why Cisco chose Shanghai for the site of an R&D center, Chambers was quick to note China’s excellent infrastructure, a good university system that provides a pool of talent from which to recruit researchers and business-friendly policies implemented by the country’s government. But Cisco’s decision is about more than developing future VOIP products, it’s about positioning Cisco for future growth in China.
“What we’re trying to do is outline an entire strategy of becoming a Chinese company,” Chambers said.”
Canada – Telehealth
Australia’s eHealth Initiative
This article was originally published on my old website: ChannelingReality.com in July of 2007.
10 Comments
Joe
Most of this in my mind is a ruse, I think they would rather see a lower age of mortality, the younger you die after retirement, the less the government will pay in social security and Medicare payments as well as a lot less actual health care.
Vicky Davis
For senior citizens you may be right but if only senior citizens were the target, they didn’t need to change anything because senior citizens were already in the Medicare system and the government has the claims records on all of them.
Personalized medicine is by definition experimental. The fact that its based on your DNA and your body chemistry makes it applied genetics research on human populations.
As I researched each component element of the redesigned health care system, the evidence of a system designed for experimental medicine became more and more clear. The objective was and is to enable genetics-based medical research on potentially the entire American population. I wish it wasn’t so because its so monstrous but it is the way the system was designed and a systems design is not accidental.
In the latest piece I just published: Electronic Health Records for Medical Research, I included a paper written by Alain Enthoven on Managed Competition. Enthoven was a Systems Analyst going back to when Robert McNamara was the Secretary of Defense. He was one of McNamara’s “Whiz Kids”. He might be retired now but when I wrote about it originally, he was a Professor at Stanford. If my analysis of his design is correct, they intended to use health insurance companies for triage of patients as well as the intermediary for subsidies. (Basically that’s what Hillary Care and Obama Care did). They were already using claims history to determine health status for premium calculation and/or denial based on that status. If they have the actual medical record with lab results, it would be relatively simple to select populations for research based on the medical record. We don’t know and can’t know what kind of contract deals go on behind the scenes between the health insurers and their preferred providers. For some subscribers that are attractive candidates for medical research, the insurance companies could make deals for additional subsidies which would lower the cost of the premium if the subscriber selects a particular program. In that way, the insurance company would be directing patients through premium costs to particular providers and the people wouldn’t even know they were being steered.
Thank you for reading it and commenting.
Joe
Vicky, you put so much detail into most everything you write, that I do miss some things and have to reread, bravo to you! I have a hard time believing that the powers that be would do any thing to actually help anyone not of their breeding. What you do here is important!
Vicky
My reply is below. This software doesn’t handle comments very well. After about the 3rd level, they become unreadable. Thank you commenting Joe. I do appreciate it.
Vicky Davis
Joe, You’re a brave man for wading into what I write – especially on this subject. I’ve been monitoring it for a long time and I actually have more information on my hard drive than I can put into any article. Coincidentally, just today, Pat Woods of Technocracy News has an article on the very subject of genetic engineering.
https://www.technocracy.news/index.php/2017/02/26/humans-2-0-geneticists-pursuing-artificially-synthesized-dna/
When I first started researching this in 2007, nobody in the mainstream was talking about it except in terms sequencing. As you can see from this TED Talk, they are now talking about it to limited audiences – but the way they talk about it – it is only for the people who are already ill. The plans are for preventative genomic treatments which again would be totally experimental on people not showing signs of any disorder or disease but who – according to them – have the propensity for the disease.
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_resnick_welcome_to_the_genomic_revolution
Kristin
Fantastic stuff. Vicky you mentioned in another article on channelingreality about all of the corner pharmacies everywhere (Walgreen’s, CVS) I brought up the same topic in conversation with a family member- what’s it all about and what do they have planned- you mentioned in one of your health articles on the old site about us “consumers” (don’t you just love that newspeak) having our prescriptions et al. being individualized, we will each have our own personalized rx and wellness programs. That answered my wonderings about it, in fact reading your articles is reading our future.
” IBM which allows us to link the capabilities of knowing the genetics of each persons background along with their behavioral and environmental factors” What nonsense- “behavioral”?? Any first year biology student knows behavior is not in one’s DNA. That is the stuff of Goebbels- of Mengele! It’s been disproved time and time again. Intelligence, behavior, mannerisms, dialect none of these are inherited. Yes even intelligence, don’t believe that it is, because it isn’t. Physical characteristics yes, personality traits no. You cannot and will not inherit grandma’s love of knitting or her sweet tooth. This is bad science, stupid science. I fear something ugly is coming and like you said Vicky, there are the ostensible reasons and the REAL reasons behind the motives. What I fear more is what I believe that our society is unaware of the research and experiments going on right now, and I speak of cancer treatments for children. It’s alright if anyone disagrees with me, but the cancer chemotherapy and radiation treatments on children is sadism, an infant or even a toddler is not intelligent enough or even lucid to make decisions on treatment, or express discomfort in a manner an older, speaking child can. The TV ads on with the weepy parents, showing video of an infant cancer treatment patient are the stuff of nightmares all to beg for donations for a children’s hospital. The treatments performed on tiny children reminds me of the torture experiments performed by the Nazi regime or the Japanese doctor experiments https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
You mention perhaps it will be a plan to cull the undesirables- if so, why are we importing undesirables from 3rd world nations? we get all of Honduras, Guatemala rejects, all of the younger men of military age with a propensity for violent extremism from Islamic states being shipped in by the tens each day. Do you see a plan with these people? What is the plan? why are they being brought in? I do know the UN wants to end what they term “income inequality” (i.e., communist rule where no one is richer than his neighbor, and all will be poor) which correlates with their “free and open borders” scheme – here is a copy paste directly from the UN’s own “17 Sustainable Goals” :”
Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies
Implement the principle of special and differential treatment for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, in accordance with World Trade Organization agreements
Encourage official development assistance and financial flows, including foreign direct investment, to States where the need is greatest, in particular least developed countries, African countries, small island developing States and landlocked developing countries, in accordance with their national plans and programmes”
that is, encourage all of the illiterate, non-employed poverty-stricken dregs of society into first world rich nation of USA and don’t hinder the migration in any way. Why isn’t anyone in the media focusing on this UN plan?? They all seem to be at odds with the reasons why there is all this migration going on right now and the “refugee crisis” (sigh) yet they seem to be oblivious to the UN goals. Either that, or they are deliberately fogging up the reasons so we will all believe the humanitarian nonsense- Oh! that is the ostensible reasons, as opposed to the real ones.
Vicky
Unit 731… at the bottom of this article I implied that. I didn’t explain what I meant. I didn’t want to. It’s too horrendous but I know that’s what they are doing. I can’t take those commercials for St. Judes.
http://www.channelingreality.com/Commons/The_Refugee_Weapon_System_Part_2_IRC.pdf
Vicky
Kristin, when I wrote that they planned to cull the population, I assumed that it was America’s mad scientists who were behind it. Now I’m not so sure. It’s quite possibly our enemy’s mad scientists. Yesterday I was working on bringing over my research on Project Destiny. That’s the pharmaceutical piece of this system. I made a HUGE connection in terms of the hospitals and intermodal commerce zones – international zones. I didn’t want to take the time to walk through all of it so I wrote it as a Vicky’s Rant.
http://tvoinews.net/vickyrants/hello-911-id-like-report-robbery-progress/
Also on the behavioral thing… I think you’re misunderstanding the purpose. If you are doing genetic experimentation on some kind of cancer, and you are studying on the propensity for a person to develop cancer, you don’t want that person to smoke because that is an external factor that could skew your results. If you’re experimenting, you need to control the external variables. Behavior affects the variables – or perhaps is a variable. Some place in my research you’ll see where they want to fine people who are over weight. They are allowing employers to require overweight people to exercise which makes the employee a total slave. (of course they don’t do anything about the high fructose sugar used in processed foods and a myriad of other – probably bad things in our food).
kristin
Thanks Vicky- for your reply and I am glad I checked back again, Ive been busy. I cannot get enough of your writing and often come back to it to refresh my memory. I wish I could do more to get this out there to the people, maybe more of us can make a difference.
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