Federal investigation: Patient privacy in jeopardy

Feb 20, 2007 3:26 PM

The Bush administration has no clear strategy to protect the privacy of patients as it promotes the use of electronic medical records throughout the nation's health care system, federal investigators say.

The Government Accountability Office says in a report that 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.

In 2004, Bush declared that every American should have a "personal electronic medical record" within 10 years -- by 2014. With computerized records, he said, "we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs and improve care."

In response to the President's plea, federal officials have developed elaborate plans for what they describe as "a nationwide health information network," The New York Times reports.

But in the report, issued this month, the GAO says the administration had taken only rudimentary steps to safeguard sensitive personal data that would be exchanged over the network.

Senator Daniel K. Akaka, (D-Ha.), who requested the investigation, told the newspaper that "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 GAO, the Times reports. "Health privacy has not received adequate attention at the Department of Health and Human Services," says Rothstein, a professor of law and medical ethics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. "A sense of urgency is lacking."

Rothstein says "time is of the essence" because "the private sector is racing ahead" to establish medical record banks and health information exchanges. In December, he notes, 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."

The GAO report concludes that the doubts about privacy could slow the adoption and use of electronic medical records.

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