> -----Original Message-----
> From: Tim Churches [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2002 1:35 PM
> > >
> > > I would like to start a thread on the role of electronic mail in
> > > medical computing.
> > >
> > > I will begin with the punch-line: I believe that an entire medical
> > > record system that would actually be used by physicians and other
> > > providers can be constructed using IMAP server technology.
> >
> ----8<---snip----8<------
> > > I would close with a reiteration of my comment about
> security. This
> > > system is totally secure. How? Very simple. You put a
> copy of Exim
> > > on all the clients. In this way, not only is each client
> a client, it
> > > is also a mail transfer agent. It has total control of
> who it talks
> > > to and what path it uses to transfer mail. The system
> would exist in
> > > parallel with other e-mail systems.
>
> OK, sorry, I missed that last part:
Well, here's another way you could use standard e-mail protocols to transfer data around.
Assuming, of course that all the hosts that will be sending e-mail are doing so on a network that is physically protected. That is, no messages are sent over a public network (or non-encrypted one anyway).
You could use sendmail and majordomo. Set up a mailserv like majordomo. Then, configure sendmail on each host to automatically filter incomming messages through a program that will process the data. The hosts could send data directly to other hosts or to the internal mailserv. I haven't tried it, but it would probably work because:
a) sendmail has the ability to automatically send incoming messages to a filter.
b) by putting majordomo on a segment of the network with non-routable IP traffic (e.g. a 10.2.0.0 segment), you restrict the messages from the listeserv to clients within the organization.
c) special accounts could be set up on each host to process the mail messages (which would only contain clinical data).
d) good monitoring and physical setups of the whole system would prevent data leaks to the outside.
I would certainly not use this setup for high volume traffic though - it would be too slow. Just an occasional set of messages.
Richard Schilling
Webmaster / Web Integration Programmer
Affiliated Health Services
Mount Vernon, WA USA
http://www.affiliatedhealth.org
phone: 360.856.7129
