MedKaz is the “silver bullet” care providers have been seeking for years to improve healthcare quality and reduce its cost.
It is a unique, patented, patient-owned portable personal health record. It contains copies of a patient’s records from all his/her providers and the application to manage them.
Care providers use it ALONGSIDE their electronic medical record (EMR) system as a source of information, NOT as a substitute system, and they enter their notes into their own charting system — NOT into their patient’s MedKaz. (As described below, copies of their notes are uploaded to our MedKaz Server.)
As they treat their patient, care providers search it to access notes and records generated by their patient’s OTHER current and past care providers — to coordinate their patient’s care, and avoid medical errors and unnecessary visits, tests and procedures.
MedKaz is extremely secure; providers can trust its contents
MedKaz security practices reflect two truths:
- If a record is not on a server, it can’t be hacked or breached.
- Hackers are attracted to big databases, not an individual’s records.
The MedKaz application ONLY runs on a MedKaz drive. It will NOT run on a computer or other USB drives. This precludes unauthorized access to a patient’s records if MedKaz contents are copied onto other devices. It also ensures that emergency providers know they have the medical information they need when they find their patient’s MedKaz.
MedKaz is password controlled to two levels: to open the MedKaz and print or download records from it, or to unlock individual records the patient has locked. (The patient can lock individual records to control who sees them; the patient’s password is required to open them.)
Records cannot be altered or deleted. Duplicate or incorrect records can be hidden to avoid desktop clutter but can be instantly accessed if needed.
Records on a MedKaz, on our MedKaz Server, or being uploaded to — or downloaded from — it are ALWAYS encrypted. The only time they are not is the moment they are processed on our Server — but then the only information accessible is from that single, de-identified record.
Patient records are stored on our MedKaz Server only until they have been downloaded by the patient and the parties with whom the patient has chosen to share them. We then delete them so they cannot be breached if, despite our precautions, our Server is hacked.
We strongly recommend patients backup their MedKaz to a secure external drive in case they lose it or it is damaged. (For security purposes, we do not store patient records long term on our Server). A patient’s PCP can offer such a backup service for a nominal fee. This would help the patient and, at the same time, provide new income for the provider.
How Providers Use MedKaz
MedKaz aggregates a patient’s lifetime health record in one place; it’s available anytime a provider needs it. Providers can instantly search its contents and access the specific records they’re looking for with only 2 or 3 clicks. By increasing provider efficiency and providing total interoperability, MedKaz can greatly increase provider satisfaction and reduce burnout.
We strongly recommend that providers plug their patients’ MedKaz drives into a standalone, un-networked computer or tablet, NOT into their EMR system. This ensures the security of both their EMR system and their patient’s MedKaz. (As discussed below, the cost of a computer or tablet is offset many times over by the new revenue MedKaz generates for the provider.) The attached chart shows how MedKaz blends seamlessly into a provider’s workflow.
When a provider logs on, MedKaz generates information that can save a provider the three to six minutes it normally takes to elicit this information from his or her patient:
- an up-to-date Health Summary listing the patient’s past health issues and chronic illnesses, current meds, allergies, immunizations, and a list of providers the patient has seen in recent the past, and the reasons for the visits
- a Referral Request (when the visit is a referral) which the providing doc can instantly access
- a Complaint Report if the patient has completed the Pre-Visit Questionnaire on his MedKaz.
As the provider treats her patient and needs to understand his history and coordinate his care with his other providers, the provider can instantly search and access these other providers’ records on her patient’s MedKaz. They are displayed in a simple browser, with the search term highlighted. The provider can print, download or import them to her own system. (They include complete progress notes, operative and radiology reports, lab and test results, correspondence, conversations, etc.)
If the provider wants to access a medical reference site such as UpToDate or NIH during an encounter, she can do so with one click directly from her patient’s MedKaz.
MedKaz works even during power or internet outages, or when a provider’s EMR system is down. All a provider needs to use a MedKaz is a charged computer.
When a provider completes her notes in her EMR system, a copy is automatically uploaded to our MedKaz Server via DirectMessaging. Our Server processes them, then automatically pushes a copy to the patient’s other providers, enabling them to catch medical errors before they happen. It also emails the patient and others the patient has designated to receive copies of their medical records, to download the patient’s records.
When a patient shares his records with loved ones or care givers, his providers may be able to engage them to follow up regularly with him to ensure they follow instructions, such as take his meds, get scheduled blood tests, etc. This can save providers the cost of having to pay their staff to do this.
MedKaz materially reduces the cost of care, generates new revenue and profits for providers and an extraordinary ROI
MedKaz gives a provider instant access to her patient’s records from his OTHER providers. The treating provider uses this information to coordinate her patient’s care and avoid costly redundant visits, tests, procedures as well as medical errors. This access is FREE to providers, and since MedKaz does not require special networks, providers (and payers) do NOT have to subsidize costly third-party networking organizations.
MedKaz also enables the patient’s other providers to catch medical errors before they happen by automatically pushing a copy of a progress note for a visit with one provider, to the patient’s other providers within 24 hours of the visit.
Providers are paid financial incentives to use their patients’ MedKaz (see below). These incentives are virtually all profit since there is little cost, if any, to providers for using MedKaz. The ROI providers and payers earn when a patient/employee adopts a MedKaz can be extraordinary.
- The new revenues and profits provider practices enjoy dwarf the cost of equipping their exam rooms with standalone computers.
- Similarly, the savings payers enjoy when they avoid unnecessary visits, tests, procedures and medical errors, dwarf the cost of the incentives they pay to providers and patients. For example, avoiding a simple blood test can save hundreds of dollars; avoiding days as an ICU- or in- patient, can save many $thousands.
It is in the self-interest of payers — employers, insurers, government — to pay incentives that drive adoption and use of MedKaz by patients and providers, and thereby drive down their health insurance costs
The MedKaz cycle is simple:
- MedKaz provides interoperability.
- Interoperability generates savings.
- Savings fund incentives to use MedKaz.
- Payers enjoy the bulk of the savings so they have good reason to pay the incentives!
By paying a fraction of their savings as incentives to patients and providers, payers can actually drive MedKaz adoption and provoke further savings — yet still enjoy materially lower health insurance costs.
Incentives to patients can include: giving them a MedKaz as a wellness benefit, and reducing their deductible or share of their health insurance premium when they use it with their providers.
Incentives to providers can include: paying them a small fee each time they upload a copy of their encounter notes, test results, etc. to the MedKaz Server (which processes and distributes them); and paying them a premium over their customary office visit reimbursement rate when they use their patient’s MedKaz. (You can model your practice or network and quantify the cost and returns MedKaz will generate for your unique organization by using our Value Calculator. You merely substitute your data in place of the sample data presented. As you can see from the sample data, returns exceeding 15X to 20X are not unusual. Yours may even be higher!)
