Halamka gives up on implantable PHRs

Dr. John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School, has officially given up on the idea that people will want to carry their medical records on implanted RFID chips, Michael Millenson reports on The Health Care Blog. Halamka had a chip implanted in 2004, but doesn’t think the public will ever widely accept the technology.

So far, no PHR technology has been widely accepted, but that’s another story.

I’m sure this won’t stop Halamka from experimenting with technologies. He was just the second person to have his genome sequenced and published on the Internet.

Interestingly, the news comes one day after the ECRI Institute included RFID on its list of 10 technologies for hospital executives to watch this year. Of course, there is a difference between tagging assets or employee badges and surgically implanting chips in people’s arms.