- As been shown
expert system demonstrate their advantages and cost-effectiveness, particularly when
implemented in large health centers. But because of high initial cost of installation and
even maintenance of such expert systems small rural hospitals will experience financial
constraints and thus be in a more underprivileged position. This raises a question of
necessity of government subsidies in order to eliminate the disparity from which the
patients will be those to suffer and bear travel costs in an ultimate state. The policy
mentioned is not a novelty, rather an established trend, as rural hospitals had been faced
similar issues with purchase of costly contemporary technologies (MRI’s, CAT scans and
etc.)Another interesting query, left open for debates, is associated with liability. No
computer system is known to be perfect. Many researchers agree that certain percent of
medical errors can still occur due to software imperfection given that the same human
being designs such computer program. In this particular case, who bears the liability for
mistakes: hospital that acquired poorly tested system or software manufacturer; or do they
share the responsibility?
- Health care policy makers are faced with five areas of special attention: 1)
financing and reimbursement of Telematics; 2) legal issues pertaining to security for data
protection and patient's rights; 3) quality of care provided with those technologies; 4)
peer review, and 5) the impact of Telematics on health outcomes. Alertness from policy
makers is indicated for security technologies protecting a safe and reliable transfer of
records and data. Therefore, personal data protection and the patient's right to privacy
need to be safeguarded through special policy measures for data protection and security.
Of particular importance are the ethic-legal questions pertaining to the autonomy and
responsibility of physicians in clinical situations directed by a computer in patient
encounters at remote sites.
