Be afraid, be very afraid Health Info

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Gregory Hicks <ghicks () hicks-net net>
Date: April 4, 2009 4:32:01 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ghicks () hicks-net net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: HITECH: Be afraid, be very afraid
Reply-To: Gregory Hicks <ghicks () hicks-net net>

Dave:

For IP if you desire...

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9130996

HITECH: Be afraid, be very afraid
By Maureen Martin

April 2, 2009 (Network World) Maureen Martin of The Heartland
Institute, a think tank promoting public policy based on individual
liberty, limited government and free markets, argues that the new
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH)
Act exposes too much personal information.

When President Obama talked about computerizing medical records during
the presidential campaign, the plan sounded benign; he said it would
give "doctors and nurses easy access to all the necessary information
about their patients." But now that his plan has become law, it turns
out lots of other people will have "easy access" too.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
(HITECH) was passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Feb.
17, 2009, as part of the stimulus bill. Despite supposedly heightened
privacy provisions, the details of HITECH are chilling. These, of
course, are the very details most members of Congress didn't bother
reading before voting for the bill.

Under HITECH, every American's "health information" is to be
computerized by 2014.  Health information is anything to do with "the
past, present, or future physical or mental health or condition of an
individual." It includes information known to "healthcare providers."
Health information is not just what our doctors and nurses know but
also information from any source that is known to our employers,
schools and universities, which are now all defined as  healthcare
providers. The government, through the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services, is to arrange for this information to be shared not
only with direct healthcare providers but also with "the government"
and "other interested parties."

Creating these computerized records will require a vast assortment of
laboring oars, all of which will have access to our electronic health
information records. These include the outside "vendors of personal
health records" that create and maintain them and the "third-party
service providers" that help them out. It also includes "business
associates" of "healthcare providers"-- and business associates'
lenders, consultants, accountants and lawyers.

All of these laboring oars are sworn to secrecy, of course, but what
happens if they disclose your records? Not much. If the disclosure is
accidental or unintentional, nothing happens. Those whose disclosures
are willful may face prosecution for fines from US$10,000 to $100,000.
But there are two reasons why this consequence is lame. First, crimes
involving specific intent are notoriously difficult to prove. Second,
there are no funds for more government prosecutors, who will likely
view many privacy violations as too trivial to bother with, even if
they are a big deal to the individual involved.

And it gets worse. Our electronic health information records can be
freely sold for  research -- which means any "systematic investigation"
aimed at contributing to general knowledge. And our employers can buy
these records to "conduct an evaluation relating to medical
surveillance of the workplace" and evaluate whether our illnesses or
injuries are work-related. So employers can review our health
information "just in case" our ailments might be work-related. And
there are no restrictions on resale of this information by these
employers and researchers.

Finally, the U.S. Comptroller General is authorized to examine the
extent to which all of this information-sharing is "successful with
respect to the quality of the resulting healthcare provided to the
individual" and report on this to the U.S. Senate and House. Which
means it will be open season on our private information.

Participation in this program by health care providers isn't mandatory,
but the $19 billion in federal subsidies and penalties for
Medicare/Medicaid doctors who don't join in are powerful incentives.

There's only one way around all this: The next time you go to the
doctor, just say, "Hi, doc, I'm feeling fine."

Maureen Martin (mmartin () heartland org) is senior fellow for legal
affairs at The Heartland Institute.


---------------------------------------------------------------------
Gregory Hicks                           | Principal Systems Engineer
                                       | Direct:   408.569.7928

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men
stand ready to do violence on their behalf -- George Orwell

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.  -- Thomas Jefferson

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they
be properly armed." --Alexander Hamilton





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