We now have a gun registry...sort of

So I was browsing another thread and someone mentioned something about computerized medical records. There are "meaningful use" criteria for these EMR's (electronic medical records) programs which allow you to take large numbers of records and extract specific data for research purposes (e.g. to study average weights of adolescents in poor neighborhoods vs. better off neighborhoods...

So the EO's (or memos, or whatever they were) that Obama enacted essentially encouraging physicians to more often ask about firearm ownership will help populate this data point in EMR programs. Now, as far as accessing that date there would naturally be HIPPA reg's and what not that should, hypothetically, protect the privacy of individuals. But how often have we heard in the news stories of medical records being thrown in dumpsters or laptops with medical records being stolen.

Basically, with a few keystrokes, an authorized person could filter all medical records of patients that own firearms (provided they told their doctor they owned them). I'm not trying to fan any flames here, but it does seem to me that this is more or less a form of a gun registry.

Carl N. Brown said:

Doctors may ask questions about guns in the home. Not shall ask questions and must report to government.

That does not lessen my concerns about doctors and gun control. Read anything by David Hemenway.

Doctors have published arguments that gun violence is a disease and guns are the virus. Somerville "Gun Control as Immunization," American Medical News, Jan. 3, 1994. Public health activist Katherine Christoffel, M.D: "Guns are a virus that must be eradicated.... Get rid of the guns, get rid of the bullets, and you get rid of the deaths." in Janice Somerville, "Gun Control as Immunization," American Medical News, January 3, 1994, p. 9

When one of the particpants in the National Geographic Doomsday Preppers told his doctor his heart attack hurt so bad he felt like killing himself, the doctor was obligated by law to report suicidial ideation to the state, and the state was obligated by lw to step in and take his guns.



Does the access to statistical data allow pin pointing individuals by name and address?

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Yes- you are able to open any particular chart. The concept is pretty good overall. Want to see how people's blood pressure responds to one med vs. another? You can filter out all records except those being treated for blood pressure by the two meds you're interested in studying. That's a good idea.
It's all about how searchable the data is. If all of the information is typed into free-text boxes, then you can't do any kind of data retrieval- at least not easily.

As programmers get feedback from EMR users, a check box specifically for gun ownership could easily be created (some EMRs may already have this). And when there's a box that requires an answer, people ask those questions without thinking. Do you own firearms? "Yes", "No", "Patient refused to answer". Still searchable.

At the VA we use CPRS. It seems to be a hybrid. All the objective data is searchable. The subjective data is in free text boxes. This is the part of the chart where I currently document firearm ownership (an oft asked question in mental health). I just don't see how digital intake forms won't ultimately include questions about firearm ownership. And if you decide not to reveal that info, then you'll have "Patient refused to answer" by the question which, as another searchable data point, is an automatic "yes" in many people's minds. You'd essentially need to lie and say "No" to protect your privacy.

Again, these would be private medical records and they should remain private. But I'll bet anyone that it's only a matter of time before a major breech of privacy occurs with these systems.

thorazine said:

Clever responses might seem cool but since we know the purpose behind the question anything but a "no" answer is a "yes" answer -- unless I am mistaken?

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That's precisely my point. And those particular data entries are/will be searchable.