Interview with CIO With Implanted RFID Chip

Filed in archive Healthcare on May 3, 2005

Have you heard about the CIO of Harvard Medical School who has had an RFID Chip implanted in his arm?

Over at ZDNet you'll find a video interview with him.

I hadn't realized the extent to which Harvard Medical School is automated. He said that they haven't had a handwritten order for a patient since 2001 (other than one incident when a Trojan horse brought their systems down). "From the doctor's brain to the patient's vein wirelessly through the Web" is how he describes it.

He had the RFID chip implanted because he felt he needed to understand the technology. Experiencing it firsthand was the way to do that. It was partially for his own personal purposes. He is a rock climber and ice climber. The chip has his medical identifiers -- not his medical records -- so that if he ever fell, he could be identified for emergency help.

He feels that such a chip could be useful for Alzheimer's patients who are not able to help verbally identify themselves.