Two-Way Data Archive Aims to Control Costs

My daughter wonders why it would be preferable for everyone to listen to the same music in her art class. Surely it would be better if everyone could listen to their own music on their own iPods or other music players.

The art teacher points out that the point of listening to the same music is to have a shared moment, not merely to inspire a painting. But in a society populated now with people listening to their own private music or media, it's like swimming against a current.

When you think about it, those shared moments can be few and far between these days. Whether we're watching TV, or surfing the Web, or listening to music, it's all too easy to slip into solitary, passive receptivity.

Within healthcare it's all too easy to slip into that same kind of passivity, even (or especially) when information in the IT system is flowing fast and furious. Sure, patients can demand their medical records, but can they read them and act upon the deluge of info they may find there?