Privacy of lectronic medical records - Research Paper Example

The cost-free factor of these technologies is an attractive initiative for a number of firms with a high customer base to adopt EMR with minimal investment on time and human resources. EMR is also gaining popularity amongst the patients or recipients of health services, especially in areas that are far away from good hospitals. The patients can view their medical records, test results and history online at the comfort of home or at work (Kolbrum, 2008). However, with the rapid rise of readily available sources online for EMR, it is fair to question whether the EMR is well-protected or easily accessible to the public.

With the internet flooded with spam and the ever-present danger of hackers breaking into confidential online records, are the patients safe online? Is convenience too close for comfort? The concerns mentioned in the paragraph above will be addressed throughout the course of this paper which seeks to justify whether all good things in life are (really) for free, find ways to ensure which EMR platforms are the safest to use, and gain insight into important privacy laws that offers protection to the patient’s personal health information.

The need for EMR was realized in the 1960s, when it was felt that there has to be an automated system for the re-organization and management of patient records to enable improved provision of health services to them. Laurence Weed, a physician, was the first to propose and describe the idea of computerized medical records or EMR (Pinkerton, 2008). Progressing through the 1990s, as the computer became more handy and sophisticated, the EMR systems also became complex and in wide use by the companies and medical institutions (Pinkerton, 2008).

Today, in 21st century, the commonality and stress on the use of EMR is so immense that the firms are now availing and adopting the systems for free, just like Email Accounts. Going back to argument where Google and Microsoft were stated as examples, it is understood that