WIKIMEDIA, WALTER BAXTERFrance was the first country to use plastic-embedded simultaneous multiple algorithm technology (SMART) back in early 1970s. We then witnessed a global explosion of these data-holding cards for banking and other applications during the following decades. Now, at the start of this century, we are pushing this technology into health care by beginning to develop a health SMART (H-SMART) card that has the potential to transform health care delivery into a more efficient, precise, economic, and readily accessible system than ever before imaginable.
The development of the H-SMART card also began in France, starting out in the 1990s as a health insurance card and later, when a federal law was passed in 2004, came to include an individual’s medical history. Germany introduced a similar health insurance card in the early 2000s, and last October added the medical history element. Soon, both these countries will require their citizens to have an H-SMART card to obtain health care and insurance.
It is expected that the European H-card will be developed to include a comprehensive health history in the next few years. And in the next decade or so, the card will likely be updated to include an individual’s genetic information as well. Thus, the H-SMART card eventually will contain a ...
