health care system, costing Americans years of healthy life and billions of dollars in avoidable treatment costs. These small failures with big consequences are everywhere in the U.S. It wasn’t the radiologist’s job to make sure June acted on the finding, which was hidden away in the “Test Results” tab of her electronic health record (EHR). What happened? She had colonoscopies on schedule at 50 and 60 but thought she was in the clear until 70 because no one flagged the radiologist’s note about a few small irregularities that meant she should come back at 63. With recommended screening, June might be alive today.
After several difficult and unsuccessful courses of chemotherapy, she enters hospice care and passes away several weeks later.Ĭolon cancer is largely curable and often preventable if it’s caught early enough to detect and remove precancerous growths. Tests reveal inoperable colon cancer that’s probably been developing for years. June, aged 67, is in the emergency department with abdominal pain and rectal bleeding. While the challenges are in some ways more acute in the United States because of its fragmented system of care, they exist in health care across the globe. We have to be aware of what we have, understand what it means, and act on that understanding. As data about our health piles up - thanks to sources like electronic health records, personal fitness apps and gadgets, and home genome test kits - we should understand a lot more than we used to about what’s wrong with our health and what to do about it.
We hear a lot about “digital health” these days.
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