As a physician I am constantly amazed that I cannot access the health information of my patients, not easily communicate with their other medical providers. This delays care, lowers the quality of care, and increases cost via duplicate tests and procedures.
This is easily fixable with a single sign on system that all medical entities accepting payment from medicare have to participate in.
Every single medical provider in the US has an NPI number. This number, combined with a password and two factor authentication, should work to log in to the electronic medical record of any healthcare entity that accepts payment from Medicare, including hospitals, medical practices, clinical laboratories, etc. The portal to access the electronic medical record should be on the landing page of the entity’s website so that providers can easily find the information if the patient can tell them the name of provider or facility.
This would immediately and dramatically improve care and outcomes at essentially zero cost.