Medscape Perspective: Stagnant Patient Records Are Public Health Problem

Thu, 05/16/2019 | by Claire Hutkins Seda

Stagnant Patient Records Are Public Health Problem

Mobile patients -- whether a professional who gets sick at an out-of-town conference or a farmworker who moves every three weeks for work -- often find that health records aren’t available when they are most needed. In our tech-obsessed and hypermobile society, how have our health records lagged so far behind? In a new perspective piece published on Medscape, entitled “Stagnant Patient Records Are a Public Health Problem,” MCN’s Chief Medical Officer, Laszlo Madaras, MD, MPH, explores what happens to patients when health records aren’t mobile -- and how Health Network can be part of the solution.

Health Network, MCN’s virtual case management system, has helped thousands of mobile patients continue care despite mobility, for dozens of health conditions and concerns, from simply learning the results of a blood test, to assuring ongoing directly observed treatment for tuberculosis. In addition to transferring medical records, Health Network Associates speak directly with patients to build rapport and assist them in connecting with other needed resources like transportation, health coverage sign-up, or sliding scale fees. In the perspective piece, Dr. Madaras wonders how such a virtual case management model can be integrated into our health systems. “The next step is to make Health Network obsolete by integrating virtual case management into all of our health systems and ensuring that such a bridge is available for everyone,” he wrote. “Then, with safe and secure technology and the political will to move forward, our health systems can finally reflect our modern needs and abilities and protect the public's health.”

“Moving—whether because of a job, such as the case of the migrant farmworker, or just for a few weeks for vacation—should never be a barrier to health care,” Dr. Madaras concludes. “Our health records need to be as mobile as we are.”