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Last Updated:
Aug 29th, 2005 - 08:33:21 |
The New
Healthcare System by Christopher
S. Bentley
September 5, 2005 Issue
Source: The New American
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Applied Digital wants millions of
Americans to be implanted with an RFID
chip for medical purposes, and the Frist-Clinton
bill (S. 1262) would pave the way.
Former Health and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Tommy Thompson, who served in
the Bush administration's first term,
recently joined the board of directors
of Florida-based Applied Digital.
Applied Digital is the owner of
VeriChip, the company that specializes
in making implantable radio frequency
identification chips (RFID) for both
people and pets.
On July 31, London's
The Business
reported that Thompson "is putting the
final touches to a plan that could
result in US citizens having [an RFID]
chip inserted under their skin." Scott
Silverman, CEO of Applied Digital, told
WebMD Medical News
on July 27 that "some 2,000 people
worldwide are using" his company's
implants. "But," the
WebMD
report noted, "soon he expects that
millions of people will get VeriChip
implants every year."
Silverman also commented to
WebMD
that when his company "first announced
VeriChip, a network poll asked people if
they would put one in their bodies. Only
9% said yes. After FDA approval [in
October 2004], 19% said yes. When former
HHS
Secretary Tommy Thompson joined our
board, the rate went up to 33%. But our
own study shows that if you ask people
whether they would have a VeriChip
implant to identify their medical
records in case of emergency, the
positive response goes to 80%."
Skeptics will dismiss Silverman's
optimistic business forecast as greatly
exaggerated, and those with a natural
distrust of polls will question the
validity of the data. But putting that
aside for a moment, consider the fact
that Applied Digital is positioning
itself to get some major help - from the
federal government.
According to
The Business
report, "the RFID capsules would be
linked to a computerized database being
created by the US Department of Health
to store and manage the nation's health
records." Thompson said he "intends to
publish the proposal in the next 50
days, by which time he plans to have had
a VeriChip inserted in his arm." The
former
HHS
secretary is definitely positioned to
use his past employment to help his new
employer.
Conveniently, on June 16, Senate
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and
Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)
introduced S. 1262, with its very
benign-sounding title of "Health
Technology to Enhance Quality Act of
2005." During a press conference at
George Washington University Hospital,
Senator Clinton tidily summed up the
nature of S. 1262: "This legislation
marries technology and quality to create
a seamless, efficient health care system
for the 21st century." Senator Frist
described it as "an interoperable
national health information technology
system."
The bipartisan duo proposed before the
Senate "three concrete steps" to
construct this "seamless" system. The
first one would be to establish
"standards for electronic medical
records." S. 1262 would codify into
statute the Office of National
Coordinator for Health Information
Technology, an office already set up by
President Bush in April 2004. The
coordinator's major duty would be, among
other things, to "facilitate the
adoption of a national system for the
electronic exchange of health
information." This certainly looks like
the same system mentioned by the July 31
London-based
Business
report.
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