HIT: Missing medical files a growing concern for Katrina victims

As we predicted in yesterday's newsletter, the issue of missing medical files following Hurricane Katrina is becoming a major story in the tech and industry press. Missing and destroyed medical records are causing major problems for those trying to deliver healthcare services in the affected areas, something which probably would not have have happened with digital records. With no documentation available on medical histories, seriously ill people are having to start over again, almost from scratch. That is putting many lives at risk and will ultimately end up costing healthcare providers millions of dollars. Expect vendors to exploit this after observing a polite period of silence.

- see this story from United Press International

PLUS: Doctors offices, clinics and hospitals damaged by Katrina are expected to flock to data recovery services in an effort to salvage information on damaged systems. Recovery services like Dallas-based VeriCenter report that business is already booming. Story

ALSO: Personal health record vendors AllScripts and Medem announced this morning that they will give victims free accounts. Release

FINALLY: Kindred Hospital in New Orleans emerged relatively unscathed from the flooding, and its EMR survived as well. HHS has made the facility the center of its regional health monitoring effort. Story

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