I think I had that operation done in… 2002? Summer maybe? The name started with a V.

Ezra Klein provides a compelling parable:

If you walked into a bank and asked to open an account, and they opened a huge ledger book and began paging to your letter in the alphabet, you'd gape for a second, walk out, and call your friends. Or maybe you'd Twitter the experience. It is the 21st Century, after all. What you wouldn't do is use that bank.

But what we'd never allow with our money is constantly endured with our health.

I can personally testify to this.  I’ve spent a lot of time around hospitals this year and have often had to repeat information about what I’ve had done, including stuff that took place at that very hospital.  I found that some of my older records were even lost to the ages because the doctor didn’t retain them.  Particularly in the diagnostic phase, I spent much of my time recounting, with medium fidelity, my health history.  With the assistance of my parents, we have a pretty good file on me, this has got to really suck for those who aren’t good record-keepers or don’t have assistance from one. 

So far I’ve dealt with one of the 20% of the physicians that had extensive electronic records.  Took an extra hour or so the first time I saw him, but every subsequent time has been much faster and I haven’t had to pull open my datebook.

Electronic medical records are part of Obama’s stimulus package.  That makes sense, it will apparently cost about $50k per physician to implement it and that spending will probably be mostly in the U.S.  Happily, we should recoup that investment within two years:

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The evidence is clear on this score: Electronic health records not only save money, they save lives. The remarkable achievements of the Veteran's Health Administration are largely the work of VISTA, their electronic health records architecture. Indeed, the Commonwealth Fund found that the savings from EHRs are considerable:

This is basically a classic public goods problem.  The benefits are dispersed, costs are concentrated, and standards are needed.  Happily Obama is actually doing something about it.