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PersonalMD.com

Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Sarasota, FL
Monday, August 9, 1999

What could be more helpful to an emergency-room medical team than immediate access to a comprehensive overview of a new patient's medical records?

The digital explosion has made it possible. An Internet startup company in Pleasanton, Calif., has created a new service that enables physicians and patients to fax electro-cardiograms, X-rays, prescriptions and other medical records to a secure online storage site.

The new service, which is supported by advertising, is free to consumers.

You register at the Internet site by filling out a questionnaire. After that, you can fax records into your personal medical file, which is called your e-file. To get a copy of records, you can go onto the Internet via computer and modem. Ever easier, you can call a phone number and have the records faxed back to you.

Clients receive a plastic ID card that tells how to access their records wither by fax machine or Internet. With that card in their hands, the emergency room staff could access your records. But only you can change them, by entering your password.

"Emergency physicians are real excited about it," said PersonalMD.com spokeswoman Susan Cossette.

Dr. Scott Plantz, vice president of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine, agreed.

"This is a major breakthrough in the emergency room physician's ability to make informed, split-second decisions," he said. "Instantaneous access to vital information including current medications, known drug allergies and EKG's could mean the difference between life and death."

The parent company for this venture is Neotrax, a 1 ½ -year-old company that provides information technology consulting services to health based businesses.

Neotrax is privately owned at this time.

-Michael Pollick

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