gordholio
Aug 26th, 2006, 03:09 AM
Insurers to test implantable microchip
By Theresa Agovino, AP Business Writer
July 16, 2006
NEW YORK - In a new test program, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey plans to implant patients suffering from chronic diseases with a microchip that will give emergency room staff access to their medical information and help avoid costly or serious medical errors, the insurer said on Friday.
Horizon plans to announce on Monday that it is teaming up with Hackensack University Medical Center in a pilot program where 280 patients regularly treated at the hospital will be implanted with a chip containing a code. The chip would allow emergency room personnel to retrieve a patient's medical record if the individual can't communicate.
The rice-sized microchip is implanted in a patient's right arm above the elbow and can be detected using equipment at the hospital.
The hope is that the chips will help doctors avoid medical errors like duplicating medical tests, dangerous drug interactions and bad diagnoses.
Within the next 30 days, Horizon will start sending letters to patients with chronic diseases explaining the new program and inviting them to participate. The program is voluntary and won't cost the patient any money to participate.
Patients with chronic conditions are the program's target because they are more likely to have serious medical problems that could leave them unable to communicate when they are at the emergency room, said Dr. Richard Popiel, vice president and chief medical officer at Horizon. For example, diabetics with low blood sugar may become confused or unconscious.
He said Horizon will test the program for two years to see if it warrants expansion.
VeriChip Corp. makes the chips and detection equipment. Hackensack already had the equipment because it was part of VeriChip's development program.
RFID: Getting Under Your Skin?
August 5, 2004, CNN/Fortune
http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/05/commentary/ontechnology/rfid/
Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha announced recently that he, several members of his staff, and some 160 employees of a new, $30 million anticrime computer center in Mexico City, had all been implanted with RFID chips. The chips — made by VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla. — will help control and track access to the new anticrime center, which houses a centralized database intended to improve Mexico's dismal record of solving crimes. In a country where bribery and corruption are a problem, being able to track precisely who has access to the "delete" key in a criminal database can be quite useful. The U.S. Army has considered implanted RFID chips to forever end the anguish of Unknown Soldiers. Banks have entertained the idea of offering implanted tags to customers as a way to prevent thefts at ATM machines and retail stores. Nursing homes see some advantages in injecting tags in patients with Alzheimer's disease, who might wander or be incoherent. Police have suggested that pairing RFID'd officers with RFID'd handguns would keep the weapons from being used against the owner. So far, however, very legitimate concerns about privacy and ethics, not to mention squeamishness about the implantation process, have kept such applications in the theoretical stage. Well, almost. As the Mexican experience shows, some people are actually volunteering to be tagged.
Comment: This was over two years ago!
US group implants electronic tags in workers
February 13, 2006, MSNBC/Financial Times
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11314766/
An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees - the first known case in which US workers have been "tagged" electronically as a way of identifying them. A private video surveillance company said it was testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds security video footage for government agencies and the police. Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the controversy over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next big growth industries. RFID chips – inexpensive radio transmitters that give off a unique identifying signal – have been implanted in pets or attached to goods so they can be tracked in transit. "There are very serious privacy and civil liberty issues of having people permanently numbered," said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns against the use of identification technology. "There's nothing pulsing or sending out a signal," said Mr Darks, who has had a chip in his own arm. "It's not a GPS chip. My wife can't tell where I am." The technology's defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is not compulsory. But critics say any implanted device could be used to track the "wearer" without their knowledge.
By Theresa Agovino, AP Business Writer
July 16, 2006
NEW YORK - In a new test program, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey plans to implant patients suffering from chronic diseases with a microchip that will give emergency room staff access to their medical information and help avoid costly or serious medical errors, the insurer said on Friday.
Horizon plans to announce on Monday that it is teaming up with Hackensack University Medical Center in a pilot program where 280 patients regularly treated at the hospital will be implanted with a chip containing a code. The chip would allow emergency room personnel to retrieve a patient's medical record if the individual can't communicate.
The rice-sized microchip is implanted in a patient's right arm above the elbow and can be detected using equipment at the hospital.
The hope is that the chips will help doctors avoid medical errors like duplicating medical tests, dangerous drug interactions and bad diagnoses.
Within the next 30 days, Horizon will start sending letters to patients with chronic diseases explaining the new program and inviting them to participate. The program is voluntary and won't cost the patient any money to participate.
Patients with chronic conditions are the program's target because they are more likely to have serious medical problems that could leave them unable to communicate when they are at the emergency room, said Dr. Richard Popiel, vice president and chief medical officer at Horizon. For example, diabetics with low blood sugar may become confused or unconscious.
He said Horizon will test the program for two years to see if it warrants expansion.
VeriChip Corp. makes the chips and detection equipment. Hackensack already had the equipment because it was part of VeriChip's development program.
RFID: Getting Under Your Skin?
August 5, 2004, CNN/Fortune
http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/05/commentary/ontechnology/rfid/
Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha announced recently that he, several members of his staff, and some 160 employees of a new, $30 million anticrime computer center in Mexico City, had all been implanted with RFID chips. The chips — made by VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla. — will help control and track access to the new anticrime center, which houses a centralized database intended to improve Mexico's dismal record of solving crimes. In a country where bribery and corruption are a problem, being able to track precisely who has access to the "delete" key in a criminal database can be quite useful. The U.S. Army has considered implanted RFID chips to forever end the anguish of Unknown Soldiers. Banks have entertained the idea of offering implanted tags to customers as a way to prevent thefts at ATM machines and retail stores. Nursing homes see some advantages in injecting tags in patients with Alzheimer's disease, who might wander or be incoherent. Police have suggested that pairing RFID'd officers with RFID'd handguns would keep the weapons from being used against the owner. So far, however, very legitimate concerns about privacy and ethics, not to mention squeamishness about the implantation process, have kept such applications in the theoretical stage. Well, almost. As the Mexican experience shows, some people are actually volunteering to be tagged.
Comment: This was over two years ago!
US group implants electronic tags in workers
February 13, 2006, MSNBC/Financial Times
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11314766/
An Ohio company has embedded silicon chips in two of its employees - the first known case in which US workers have been "tagged" electronically as a way of identifying them. A private video surveillance company said it was testing the technology as a way of controlling access to a room where it holds security video footage for government agencies and the police. Embedding slivers of silicon in workers is likely to add to the controversy over RFID technology, widely seen as one of the next big growth industries. RFID chips – inexpensive radio transmitters that give off a unique identifying signal – have been implanted in pets or attached to goods so they can be tracked in transit. "There are very serious privacy and civil liberty issues of having people permanently numbered," said Liz McIntyre, who campaigns against the use of identification technology. "There's nothing pulsing or sending out a signal," said Mr Darks, who has had a chip in his own arm. "It's not a GPS chip. My wife can't tell where I am." The technology's defenders say it is acceptable as long as it is not compulsory. But critics say any implanted device could be used to track the "wearer" without their knowledge.