The Government Health IT article went on to note that “Because U.S. and Canadian health care providers use that software extensively, privacy advocates say they are concerned about the CIA’s role…. Twila Brase, president of Citizens’ Council on Health Care, a St. Paul, Minn. health care policy organization, said her group opposes master patient indexes because they can serve as national identifiers.”
Florida Patients Have No Legal Recourse under Federal Health Privacy Rule
Some 1,100 patients in Florida have discovered that under the federal medical-privacy rule (mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996), they have no legal recourse for breaches of privacy.
A September 15 article by Naples Daily News reports the Naples patients learned that a former hospital employee working as a front-desk coordinator downloaded and printed their information, including Medicare beneficiary numbers, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and home addresses. The data was used to seek more than $2.8 million in fraudulent Medicare claims.
The article notes that the only legal recourse the patients have is to bring suit under Florida privacy-rights laws, but that success hinges on proving actual damages from theft of their personal information. However, stress about loss of privacy is not enough to prove actual damages, according to Benjamin Butler, an attorney with the firm Crowell & Moring in Washington, DC.
Americans who want to ensure their health privacy should become thoroughly informed about the lack of true health privacy rights under the federal rule and work to strengthen their state privacy laws and/or repeal the misleading federal rule.
Sources:
- “CMS Should Tighten Privacy of Health Data Held by Contractors,” Government Computer News, September 8, 2006: http://www.gcn.com/cgi-bin/udt/im.display.printable?client.id=gcn_daily&story.id=41945
- “Privacy: Domestic and Offshore Outsourcing of Personal Information in Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE,” United States Government Accountability Office, GAO report no. GAO-06-676, September 2006: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06676.pdf
- “Executive Order: Promoting Quality and Efficient Health Care in Federal Government Administered or Sponsored Health Care Programs,” August 22, 2006: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/08/20060822-2.html
- “Daily Health Policy Report: President Bush to Sign Executive Order Establishing Health IT Standards, Requiring Quality Measurement Systems for Federally Funded Care Providers,” August 7, 2006: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=38972
- “CIA-Backed Investment Stirs Health Privacy Fears,” Government Health IT, August 14, 2006: http://www.govhealthit.com/article95647-08-14-06-Print
- “Master Index Pitched as Patient ID Alternative,” Government Health IT, September 12, 2005: http://www.govhealthit.com/article90745-09-12-05-Print
- “Florida Health Fraud Case Breaks New Legal Ground,” Naplesnews.com, September 15, 2006: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/sep/15/
florida_health_fraud_case_breaks_new_legal_ground/?local_news