FW: [IP] he French medical system, in your pocket

[Eugene Garfield]

	From: Ted Nelson <tandm at xanadu.net <mailto:tandm at xanadu.net> >
	  Reply-To: <mailto:tandm at xanadu.net> tandm at xanadu.net
<mailto:tandm at xanadu.net> 

	 
	
	Dear Friends:
	
	     The Carte  Vitale is a green plastic credit card with a
small
	gold memory chip in the middle.  Each of the 61 million
residents of
	France carries it all the time.  Embedded in the gold metallic
square
	is a digital record of every doctor visit, referral, injection,
	operation, x-ray, diagnostic test, prescription, warning, etc
together
	with a report on how much the doctor billed and how much was
paid, by
	the insurance funds and by the patient.  Everybody in France has
this
	card. A child under 15 has his records maintained on his mothers
card.
	When the doctor receives the card from his patient he slides it
into a
	small reader on his desk and the patients medical record is
displayed
	on the doctor's computer screen.  Thus, doctors and hospitals do
not
	have large file cabinets full of records.  The doctor proposes a
	remedy (shot, course of drugs, referral to specialist, whatever)
and
	types a record of the visit and his treatment.  That goes onto
the
	carte vitale.  The patient takes his carte vitale with him to
the drug
	store, or hospital or specialist and the treatment is carried
out.
	The golf chip is encrypted and there is no breach of patient
privacy
	from lost cards.
	      When the doctor completes his treatment and enters the
days
	treatment on card, he simply hits the "transmit" key and all the
	billing information is transmitted to each of the relevant
insurance
	plans.  The insurance funds are required to pay him and pay him
	quickly.  They do.  No quibbles.
	      Doctors and hospitals do not need to hire clerks and
	administrative people to bill insurance companies.  No necessity
to
	hire collection companies.  No paper handlers.  No secretaries
or
	office managers.  No administrative or clerical personnel  whose
main
	task is billing hundreds of payers and documenting all medical
	procedures.
	      This email is not a political statement by me.  I am not
	endorsing the universal health care system of France, Germany,
	England, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Taiwan or any other
country.  I
	just wanted to let you know how this amazing Carte Vitale card
saves a
	huge amount of money in France.
	
	Best regards, Jack
	
	
	
	
	
	
	-- 
	Theodor Holm Nelson PhD
	Founder of computer hypertext, 1960
	Fifty years fighting for a better world
	 of rich parallel documents, visibly connected.
	.
	Visiting Professor of Electronics and Computer Science
	University of Southampton, UK.

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