Author/Source:Patrick Michels, Government Technology, September 29, 2008.
To anticipate the future, take a look at the past. It makes particular sense in health care when critical decisions are based on patients' medical history. However, for foster children who arrive at new homes with few or no treatment records, knowing the past poses a major challenge. Documented allergies, immunizations and illnesses are often shrouded in mystery when foster parents welcome a child.
That changed for Texas foster children April 1, when the state Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) rolled out the online Health Passport. Today more than 30,000 foster children have electronic records that update most information automatically and follow children when they move to a new home.
The Health Passport, one feature in an overhaul of the Texas foster child health-care system, is the latest program in a larger trend toward electronic health records. It's the first program of its kind in the country, but project developers say other states may soon follow Texas' lead.
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