Digital health passports are becoming more widespread around the globe. During travel some users find digital health passports much more convenient to use than bringing paper copies of medical records with them as they move around the globe.
In terms of why this digital platform is proving popular with both businesses and consumers is captured by Matt Hollingsworth, co-founder of Carta Healthcare, who explains to Digital Journal: “Digital health passports provide a secure and efficient way to verify an individual’s health status because they often contain built-in security features such as QR codes, making them hard to forge or tamper with.”
Hollingsworth continues: “Most patients also don’t understand the clinical details of past illnesses or injuries. These details are often complicated and hard to translate to non-medical professionals or even physicians who aren’t familiar with conditions outside their practice areas.”
Furthermore, Hollingsworth adds: “A digital health passport with this information would provide the information that both general practitioners and specialists can reference to deliver proper care.”
An example of this concept is with Apple Health. The application consists of health records, medication, labs, activity and sleep, and enables creation of an emergency medical ID card accessible from the lock screen.
An advantage of this portable health record is where patients do not understand the clinical details of past illnesses or injuries, the digital health passport can provide the necessary information that both general practitioners and specialists can reference to deliver proper care without relying on the patient to articulate the specifics of their case.
A second advantage is in the form of health travel records. These will list current and former medical conditions, and the exact procedures applied to those conditions to avoid touching surgical areas again, because re-touching may be fatal.
No digital system is foolproof, especially when it comes to outside influence. One potential flaw is with data loss and data breaches. A degree of safeguard is provided through the application allowing the user to control the level of information sharing they want to share.
Another concern is with inequitable access and technical challenges. For example, someone without access to a smartphone may not be able to access their medical records digitally. This leads to marginalized groups facing barriers to accessing the same services that technically equipped people have.
Issues such as platform or device incompatibility can hinder users’ access to their medical records, giving them no choice but to go the paper records route.
