smartSTIK-MD keeps your medical records on a biometric flash drive

While the smartSTIK-MD isn't the first biometric USB drive that we've ever seen, but it's definitely the first medically-oriented one we've laid eyes on. Apparently this drive is "designed to accept medical information, including lab results, x-rays, physician's notes, prescription histories, testing results, and just about any medical data" -- but we're not really sure how that makes it different from any other flash drive (data is data, after all), other than it supposedly complies with the Health Information Privacy and Portability Act. We don't know when in 2007 this will be out, nor what it'll cost (save a fingerprint scan), but if you're already asking your doctor about Mylanta, Zoloft, Viagra or your other drug of choice, ask them about the smartSTIK-MD, too. We're curious.

[Via medGadget]

[Sean @ Dec 5th 2006 4:47AM]

I read mylanta as marijuana can you tell what I was planning on using this for? haha

[cjrenaud @ Dec 5th 2006 11:55AM]

Biometric pipe?

[Andrew Christian @ Dec 5th 2006 10:38AM]

FYI, HIPAA is the Health Information Portability and Accountability (not Privacy) Act, accountability defined in this case as keeping medical records secure.

(Among other things, it's why the pharmacy I work at now has to use individual passwords for the computer system instead of a company wide password that they emailed once a month.)