The downside of wiring the health care system

There are many advantages of electronic medical records, electronic communications, point of care information tools, and other things that can be done with a computer. Unfortunately, as the health care world gets more wired, the disadvantages become evident as well.This week's computer worm affected all kinds of organizations, including the five acute care hospitals of Partners HealthCare, according to the Boston Globe (Worm infects hospital systems). As computerization proceeds, expect to see the problems that affect the rest of the wired economy adapt to the health care space, including phishing, identity theft, and blackmail.