Warnings Over Privacy of U.S. Health Network (NYT) no overall strategy to ensure that privacy protec

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/washington/18health.html?ex=1329454800&en=1453143be5c2f670&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Warnings Over Privacy of U.S. Health Network

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: February 18, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 — 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 in a new report.

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.

President Bush has repeatedly called for the creation of such networks, through which health care providers could share information on patients. In 2004, Mr. 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.” Mr. Bush has said: “One of the things I’ve insisted upon is that it’s got to be secure and private. There’s nothing more private than your own health records.”

FULL story at link.

[Trillo]

1. Glad to see this picked up by the media.

All the privacy accorded to the government, and all the transparency mandated to citizens, is truly hypocritical.