One of the greatest boons of the transition to digitized documents is the ability to aggregate longitudinal data on medical trends that, prior to this conversion, could only be analyzed via a veritable hodge podge of clinical trials and random samples. We've already covered the potential benefits of this approach for people with multiple sclerosis, and now it seems that government officials are eager to take advantage of this capability to promote patient safety in general. 

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is exploring the possibility of gaining direct access to de-identified EHR information on millions of patients in order to glean data that will be useful in identifying risky pharmaceuticals and other patient safety threats," the industry news outlet EHR Intelligence reports.

No plan of action has been put into place as of yet, but this proposition does once again highlight how chiropractic EMR software can strengthen the national healthcare system as a whole by increasing the ease of transmission of medical records among healthcare practitioners. This capability – and the FDA's publicized intention to access medical data in general – is bound to spur discussions about patient privacy and security. However, the source notes that the millions of patients whose records are reviewed will not be identified.

The purpose of this project and similar endeavors is simply to take advantage of the incredible amount of data now available through healthcare IT for the benefit of the population at large. Accumulating medical data in this way is precisely what enables crucial breakthroughs in Multiple Sclerosis, cancer treatment and other widespread ailments. From the standpoint of chiropractic EHR, it may even be used to shed light on common back problems and the lifestyle choices that could mitigate or exacerbate them.