he French medical system, in your pocket

[Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Ted Nelson <tandm () xanadu net>
> Date: June 12, 2010 6:01:45 PM EDT
> To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
> Cc: Ted Nelson <tandm () xanadu net>
> Subject: Dave-- the French medical system, in your pocket
> Reply-To: tandm () xanadu net

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jack Richey <torchbearer1 () msn com>
> Date: Sat, Jun 12, 2010 at 10:59 AM
> Subject: Carte vitale (Card of life)
> To:
>
>
> 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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