What NAIS Says About the Coming Battle Over Our Medical Records

One additional issue raised in the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) meeting transcript I described in my previous posting has to do with the animal and premises records being accumulated as farmers sign up under the "voluntary" NAIS. Over 320,000 premises have been registered and 2,500 new ones are coming in each week, the USDA reported, which translates into millions of animals.

The USDA seems uncertain just how it’s going to handle all that data. Its official reporting on NAIS stated that “nine animal tracking databases have been approved and nine more are in process.” The report added that an NAIS Advisory Subcommittee “feels producers should be given the choice to either participate in a private or public (state or federal) solution” for the animal tracking databases.

In other words, databases are being established but their final form appears still to be up for grabs. (I have to hedge what I say, because as I pointed out yesterday, the bureaucrats’ language is hazy, and we can’t always be sure that what they say is what they mean.)

Since we know that animals often lead the way on major issues, it’s intriguing to see similar issues emerging in news coming out about databases of our medical records: It all seems to be up for grabs.

I wrote in my BusinessWeek.com article (“Animal Tags for People?”) that VeriChip’s real goal is to establish its own database of patient records for everyone who wears a chip in their arm. I also pointed out that big retailers like Walgreens and Wal-Mart have their eye on building medical record databases by providing outpatient medical clinics to their customers.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Steve Case, a founder of AOL, has started a company that is selling medical record services to consumers. If you remember all those CDs you used to receive from AOL trying to get you to try the online service, you already know what an aggressive marketer Case is. I can only imagine how he might use the medical records in his company’s database.

And, of course, many physicians are setting up their own digital recordkeeping systems with databases to interact more efficiently with patients. Already, marketers are starting to work with the doctors to use the databases to sell medical services more effectively.

So, who will win this database battle? I can’t say, nor can I say there is any entity I would trust more than another to stand up for the privacy of my records.