Bush: "[Electronic Health Records Must Be] Secure & Private
(Except When They Aren't)
The Times warns that Bush administration policy of promoting and supporting electronic health records - promoted by the President under the aegis of preventing mistakes, reducing costs and improving care - is not backed up by the privacy protections the President promised. The times refers to the GAO report which makes this claim:In the report, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said the administration had a jumble of studies and vague policy statements but no overall strategy to ensure that privacy protections would be built into computer networks linking insurers, doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.... the G.A.O. said the administration had taken only rudimentary steps to safeguard sensitive personal data that would be exchanged over the network.
Senator Daniel K. Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, who requested the investigation, said it showed that “the Bush administration is not doing enough to protect the privacy of confidential health information.” As a result, Mr. Akaka said, “more and more companies, health care providers and carriers are moving forward with health information technology without the necessary protections.”
... Mark A. Rothstein, the chairman of a panel that advises the government on health information policy, essentially agreed with the accountability office. “Health privacy has not received adequate attention at the Department of Health and Human Services,” said Mr. Rothstein, a professor of law and medical ethics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. “A sense of urgency is lacking.”
Mr. Rothstein said “time is of the essence” because “the private sector is racing ahead” to establish medical record banks and health information exchanges. In December, he noted, Wal-Mart, Intel and other companies announced they were creating a huge database that could store the personal health records of more than 2.5 million employees and retirees. The companies promised they would have “stringent privacy policies and procedures.”Mr. Rothstein said Congress should not provide more money for a nationwide health information network unless the administration did more to protect the privacy of electronic medical records.
Perhaps medical privacy protections are unnecessary, because after all we are protected by the Patriot Act. That helps ensure privacy, yes?
Labels: Bush, electronic health records, privacy advocates
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Electronic health records. Sounds like a good idea...or not. If people can't keep their identities safe with credit cards or banking issues, how will the electronic health records be safe. There are so many hackers out there that can probably easily tap the system, steal information that should be protected by HIPPA and use it against the patient. What safe guards are in place? I don't think that this is a good idea if patients want total confidentiality.
- by Heather G on Feb 19, 2007 at 1:46 AM | link
I must agree with the commentary posted by Heather G. If we cant be safe with credit cards and identify theft then health records will be no different. Today with the advancement of technology we can and do block many hackers and can safeguard our health records however it is only time until very educated computer experts gain access to the accounts. I believe that a safeguard is over due and that our government needs to not only address the accounts in health care but to also address the records of banking and other personal accounts.
- by Adam on Feb 20, 2007 at 12:20 PM | link
You need only Google hacker and health information to see that there have been many cases already where health information has been accessed by outsiders, HIPAA or no HIPAA.
However, EMRs and other IT tools offer a chance to reduce harmful medical errors, improve the coordinaton of care across providers and facilities, and increase health system efficiencies--all of which are pressing needs in the US. This isn't to say that safeguards aren't important, but to say no to technology in health administration is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
- by Sparky on Feb 22, 2007 at 6:11 PM | link
Electronic charting has its use I agree but as a nurse for 20 years where will I get to elaborate and add my insightful and great assessment of each patient I encounter if I have to select or use prefabricated charting??? You will miss my charting, someone will I gaurantee.
- by Diane c RN on Feb 25, 2007 at 11:34 PM | link