December 6, 2006 -- Pediatricians Welcome Electronic Medical Records

If every newborn left the hospital with a standard electronic health record, it would be the first step in maintaining a personal health record, and such a record would help in coordinating the child’s medical care, according to a statement of support for electronic medical data issued today by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Electronic records would be valuable for perfectly healthy children but would be especially helpful in the case of children with chronic diseases such as asthma and children in foster care, said Dr. Alan Zuckerman of the AAP’s Council on Clinical Information Technology. Zuckerman said the AAP is aware of “the complex privacy protection needs of children” and looks forward to good models for involving adolescents in appropriate use and access to their personal health records. The AAP statement came as the heads of several major American corporations announced that they are forming an independent nonprofit institute to develop a web-based framework called Dossia for maintaining lifelong personal health records. The institute can be contacted at www.dossia.org.