Lawmaker Wants Medical Records To Go Electronic

Imagine having your medical records available during an emergency in another part of the state.  Senator Jim Wilson of Tahlequah wants to turn your paper medical documents into electronic files.  He says it'll save countless lives and millions of dollars.

"So when you see a physician, a new one that doesn't know you, doesn't know your history, he or she will have access to your prescriptions, what's happening in your life and so on," said Senator Jim Wilson, a Tahlequah Democrat.

But not everybody is sold on the idea.

Some say it would be costly to make the switch and it could cause some privacy issues.

"I mean privacy is a right that we need to really cherish, but the benefit to having information available to who needs it, those are kind of a balancing act, and I'm not sure we've decided that," said Lou Carmichael with Oklahoma Community Health Services.

There is already an electronic record program in eastern Oklahoma called SmartNet.