In his CIO role, Halamka is responsible for all clinical,
financial, educational and research technologies for 3,000
doctors, 12,000 employees, and 2 million patients. After the
FDA approved the implantable chip, "I felt I was in a unique
position to pilot the technology," Halamka says. "That
means that when a scanner is passed within 6 inches of my
arm, my medical identifier is displayed and can be used by
authorized healthcare workers to retrieve information about
my identity and medical history via a secure Web site ."
Halamka emphasizes his role at present is not that of chip
advocate for hospitals but as a real-life test case. Though he
says that Alzheimer's patients might benefit from RFID
chips one day, as long as it's clear the patients gave informed
consent to have a chip implanted.
The chip is expected to last at least 10 years based on pet
experience. Halamka says it's safe for MRI scans, and he sees
no evidence the chip can be deactivated through magnetic
energy. "I have flown to several dozen cities since the implant and have not triggered any airline security systems," he notes. The chip is not a GPS. The unique ID transmitted by the VeriChip human-implantable chip isn't encrypted, so it could be read by a compatible reader. But unauthorized
reading of the chip doesn't disclose any specific health information, he adds, because that's on a closed Web site.
However, Halamka says there are privacy concerns that
should be addressed. He points out that an RFID scanner theoretically
could record his presence while he was making a
purchase, and on a repeat visit it would be possible to identify
him and his previous purchases using that information for
marketing purposes. "Spam, generated by the presence of your
body, is theoretically possible," he says. He says there's no legislation
to preclude RFID scanning of an individual for anonymous
tracking, which could be "analogous to the spyware and
adware infecting our computers after surfing Internet sites."
The potential for hacker abuse shouldn't be underestimated,
he adds. The security issue "must be w1derstood as one of the
risks of having an implanted identifier," Halamka says.
Nonetheless, he has listed his identifier as part of his
medical record in the Beth Israel Deaconess medical record
system, called Care Web, so that a physician, with his consent,
could enter the RFID tag information to retrieve his medical
history. "I have no regrets," Halamka says about the whole
implant experience, even though removing the chip would
require minor surgery. And he would consider upgrading
himself with a new chip, too, should a better one come along.