One of the biggest expenses to the consumer, and to business as a whole, is healthcare. With an aging population, and skyrocketing costs, business is struggling to provide healthcare to its employees, and consumers are feeling the pinch through higher co-pays and reduced services. According to the Health Services Alliance, medical costs are rising 8 to 12% per year, with no end in sight, leaving cash strapped consumers in a bind.
Yet MedeFile International, Inc. (trading under the symbol MDFI) has a series of products that can bring down a significant portion of these expenses. It’s called the Medefile system. MedeFile is a proprietary system for gathering and digitizing medical records so that individuals can have a complete and comprehensive record of all their medical history. Then, by securely controlling who is allowed to view these records, a member to their service can present their healthcare professional a complete history of all their past tests, exams, x-rays, and results. Not only can they access these records securely and from virtually anywhere in the world, but this product is the first of its kind to focus on the consumer instead of the healthcare provider.
The implications for cost cutting and money savings are enormous. Each and every day, there is a test performed on someone who just had that very same test done recently enough to be valid. Because there’s been no cohesive and logical way for a consumer to keep track of all their tests, results, X-ray analysis, blood profiles, etc, doctors are forced to simply re-order the whole litany again. This is double testing, and although there are no exact figures available, Doctors at Human Health and Services said that “the costs of double testing run into the tens of millions per year”.
Imagine instead, a patient is sent to a specialist for a particular problem, and he brings along his “MedeDrive”, a patent-pending USB device that members can use to carry their medical records with them at all times. The patient hands the doctor the tiny drive unit, and – because there is no software to load and no installation of any kind – the self-contained program on the MedeDrive fires up instantly on the doctors PC, displaying the patient’s entire medical history, from tests run on blood work, to lipid levels, to heart and brain wave function, to the actual rendering of opinions by the previous healthcare provider. Instantly the doctor has a much more defined medical profile to work with, and also knows exactly what testing needs to be ordered. No more “shotgun” approaches.
This is even more evident in the ambulance and emergency room arena. Often healthcare professionals and first responders come upon accident victims that are unable to answer questions concerning their allergies or medicines they may be on. With a MedeFile membership, the emergency room personnel can access the generic “work up” page that simply lists blood types, allergies, known medical conditions etc., giving them important information necessary to properly treat their patient without actually allowing them to see any personal medical history the patient might not be willing to share. With MedeFile, the patient/member has total control over who sees what information.
It’s simply not a question of whether MedeFile Inc. will help medical providers give better healthcare to their patients that have a MedeFile membership. That’s a given, simply by virtue of allowing the doctor to see the entirety of a patient’s medical history in one cohesive, encompassing collection. But the added benefit of cutting down on “tens of millions” of dollars worth of double testing per year makes this a very attractive solution to a very old problem. Increasing healthcare efficiency and cutting costs at the same time? This is truly a technology that’s time has come, and not a moment too soon.
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