I applaud your effort to provide this set of precise recommendations, in order to positively impact the final definition of meaningful, hopefully creating a more patient-centered version than what we have heard so far.

I do have a disagreement with you over the timetable, though. With President Obama’s letter to Sen Kennedy & Baucus out, it is increasingly clear that the American public will have to bear, directly a bigger share of the healthcare insurance costs:

“I understand the Committees are moving towards a principle of shared responsibility — making every American responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that employers share in the cost. I share the goal of ending lapses and gaps in coverage that make us less healthy and drive up everyone’s costs, and I am open to your ideas on shared responsibility.”

We should not ask the people of this great country to share responsibility if we do not provide them with the same tools that have been used until now by the payors and insurers to limit their costs and deny coverage. It is high time to free all the medical data, including all the billing data. We cannot wait until 2013 to make sure we have all complete access, when and where we want.

This is in essence what I wrote last night at e-patients.net (e-Patients Do Not Suffer From
Database-Hugging Disorder