A few months back, I wrote about President Obama's pick for chief technology officer, Aneesh Chopra, and a speech Chopra had given. In part, he talked about the healthcare system and how during his wife's pregnancy he had to fill out the same insurance information time and again at her various medical providers.

Recently, I accompanied someone in going to a hospital emergency room. Though thankfully not a crisis, she was experiencing chest discomfort requiring immediate attention. While I commend the staff members at the hospital for their skill and attentiveness (even when the ER resembled a MASH unit in a war zone), I was a bit surprised at how often the same information–medical history, her list of medications, etc.–had to be repeated. I would have thought once entered into the system, such information would be made available to those assigned to the patient's care–certainly within the same facility.

At press time, the president was developing a healthcare plan, and government officials were calling it a work in progress, asking that people withhold judgment while they aimed to pass an overhaul. Being an optimist, I tend to believe technology will be able to support successfully any massive change. But being a realist, I'm concerned, since from the above examples, we see technology still has a way to go within the system we have now.