Privacy of Medical Records

When it comes to the issue of privacy our health records should be given top priority, but apparently under HIPAA (Health Insurance Portablity and Accountablity Act) our health records may be regularly accessed and disseminated without our consent for all routine uses (defined as treatment, payment, and healthcare operations). All about this is written in this interesting article by Deborah C. Peel, who is medical doctor herself and the article can be found at http://www.mdng.com/current_issue_detail.cfm/article/266 and it is titled HIPAA: The Data Miner’s Dream. The author states that our medical records are open to surveillance, snooping, unwanted uses, and disclosure by more than four million “covered entities,” including employers, financial institutions, insurers, schools, government agencies and all of their business associates.

All this Data mining generates billions of dollars in revenue but not one dime goes to help a single sick person. All our personal medical records are sold by various companies to large employers, insurers and the pharmaceutical industry. Even though at times having our records readily available can save lives and be helpful it is important that we control access to our records to prevent rampant abuses of privacy.

To get more information on your medical and privacy rights go to www. patientprivacyrights.org, which was founded by the author.