Those privacy notices you sign in doctors’ offices do not actually give you any control over your personal data; they merely describe how the data will be used and disclosed.
via Deborah Peel: Your Medical Records Aren’t Secure – WSJ.com.
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March 25, 2010 at 5:21 am
I have know that for a long long long time- thank you Patriot Act!
And it is true- I ran into this problem recently when a provider billed workman’s comp AND my regular health insurance- even though I HAD NOT given them my health insurance info nor let them copy my card.
If this got out to enough people health care costs would go down because nobody would go to the doctors.
Ever wonder WHY you have to show ID and give your social at the docs? We did not have to do that until relatively recently.
March 25, 2010 at 6:23 am
The ID in particular is important because so many used another person’s ID to game the system. More so than that, your doctor MUST take the ID because he is charging you. He is now a creditor. Bet you never thought of him/her as that, huh?
March 25, 2010 at 5:40 am
The solution is to insist upon technologies that protect a patient’s right to consent to share any personal data. A step in this direction is to demand that no federal stimulus dollars be used to develop electronic systems that do not have these technologies.
It didn’t do us much good to insist that the entire bill be scrapped and revamped, so I don’t see how anything an American “insists” on with our government means jack-sh&t to them. Heck, they think listening in on the average American’s phone calls is ok…they don’t care about our privacy.
I’ll lay odds that members of Congress, the Prez and VP won’t have their records electronically recorded.
March 25, 2010 at 6:26 am
They don’t care. Your docs neck is on the line per incident. I think that the gov is full of crap. Since when have they been under the gun for all the laptops that have been lost by their employees?
March 25, 2010 at 5:43 am
PMM- That’s right…I didn’t even think about giving out our SS number. Whenever I bring my mom or mother-in-law to the doctor, that’s one of the questions on the forms they have to fill out. And it seems as if they are always “updating” those forms, drives me nuts.
March 25, 2010 at 6:29 am
Those insurance companies refuse to cross reference a patient to an insured without that ss#. I have yet to see any new software that does not have that ss# slot. Truth be known, if someone wants that number, they can get it easier elsewhere. Your kids school records. Ever wonder what happens to all those papers you fill out?