Re: Database design.

["Brian Loe" <knobdy () gmail com>]

VISTA doesn't do much in the way of a national health care records system.

Drsolly doesn't appear to be representing the project very well, or
simply doesn't understand it. A comment like, "My GP doesn't have any
xrays or MRI scans of me" is born of...what, exactly?

A NATIONAL health care database isn't going to be worried about just
your general practitioner - but also your hospital visits,
specialists, pharmacies and prescriptions, etc.. I work in the health
care industry, meaning my company does health care related processing
(you figure out which of those mentioned it is) and we deal in
terabytes of data A DAY - and we're only the 2nd or 3rd largest
processor of such information!

On top of those records add every x-ray you've ever had in your life,
or any other medical "picture" (have any kids?). Now days hospitals
send MRI scans and more "live" to other hospitals for other physicians
to review - those are saved. Not only are those saved but in the US,
due to HIPAA regulations, there's a pile of documentation that must
also go with it.

Unlike VISTA (which has versions for VA hospitals and a version for
doctor's offices), a national database would need to be robust enough
not just store all of this data but also report on it (we have three
independent systems containing the same data for different functions
that must be performed on it by pharmacies, doctors, patients and
insurance companies). We have several billions wrapped up in our
hardware/software - not to mention recurring expenses for maintenance
and upgrades (which you should expect a lot of them) and we STILL get
throttled on busy days (like the first of the month). AND WE ONLY
HANDLE ONE ASPECT OF THE HEALTH CARE DATA WORLD!

A NATIONAL health care records system may actually prove to cost MORE
than 40 billion and it won't be built in a day, meaning you should
expect that you'll be servicing the system as you build it up. I'd
make a guess and say you'll need a terabyte per person of space, to
start. You may need space for each doctors office, pharmacy and
hospital as well. Whatever insurance system you have may have needs as
well (national health care, though, in the UK, right?)...

On 6/6/06, Gary Funck <gary () intrepid com> wrote:
> Dr. Solly says:
> > I ask, because a project like this is underway in the UK, expected to cost
> > some $40 billion, and I've just written to my MP suggesting that a
> > *massively* lower figure would be more appropriate (including my
> > one-paragraph design), and asking her to raise this as a Parliamentary
> > Question.
>
> With a web site name that Microsoft would probably prefer for its next
> Office(tm) product offering ...
>
> http://www.vista-office.org/
> http://www.worldvista.org/AboutVistA/
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