The thing is, much of the reorganizing of healthcare in recent decades? It can be used for either (or both)…
Morning Headlines 7/3/19
Government EHR proposals threaten patient privacy
The American Medical Association warns that proposed federal rules allow patient data to be shared with third parties who aren’t bound to keep it private.
Outpatient therapy EHR vendor Net Health acquires Optima Healthcare Solutions, which offers a contract therapy EHR.
A few hospitals are using publicly placed microphones and machine learning-analyzed speech in hopes of detecting aggression before it turns into violence.
Malaysia’s government will open a tender this year for an EHR to be implemented in its 145 hospitals and 1,700 clinics at an estimated cost of $360 million.
The average person doesn’t care about their data being private. I’m not average lol. Maybe I’m paranoid but I like my privacy. So I wish the AMA luck but have little hope, as $ in healthcare rules. I have never owned a CVS or other store card at a pharmacy.. And after reading the privacy notice for my medical spending accounts debit card (run by Bank of America) I tried to opt out of their “sharing my data” clause – and oddly the BOA website’s link didn’t work and the toll free number was too much hassle and a time suck. So I scan or fax my receipts and destroyed my card. This is my 30th year in IT, and I have seen how claims data is used to benefit everyone else but the patient. If my data was useful for my own care, that’s one thing – but I’ve been on the side of misdiagnosis when the data was staring the doctor in the face. All this data collection didn’t stop the surgery the MD wanted to schedule, it was my own research and realization the made me seek a second opinion. Thank you AMA for watching out for private folks like myself, our data should not be a commodity – the BOAs of the world will have access and nothing we can do about it.
The problem with tha AMA’s position is that it’s fighting disclosures of data made at the patient’s request and with the patient’s authorization. Patients should have the right to use their own data in applications of their own choosing.
The AMA’s position is not that data should not be disclosed at the patient’s request and authorization, but that there is no governance to ensure that the data is used only with the patient’s authorization. The requirement should be that the third-party apps agree that they are not going to aggregate or disclose the information without the patient’s authorization, and even then, only to entities covered by a BA agreement..