States Are Making Your Medical Records Public

When there is money to be made, look for someone willing to find a way. This time it is the states and they are selling our medical information. HIPAA does not have provisions preventing this and as a result, the states are making money from selling the information from our medical records legally. And some states are selling too much information and your identity may be compromised. The map below list the problem states.

 

Other states do a somewhat better job of sanitizing records, but even then, some areas can be easy to figure out who the patients are. Bloomberg News spent over a year identifying individuals from records they purchased. In many areas of the country, this is an easy task and in other areas, this is a little more difficult, but still can be done.

If you still have doubts, then follow the link above and view the video, read the article and this should make you very uncomfortable about your medical records and their privacy being secure.

Even “de-identified” data sets contain significant personal information that could be used to identify individuals, especially in rural areas with small populations. What does “de-identified” mean? It means that your name has been removed form the data sold. Some states remove more information and sterilize the data very well, while other states leave too much information attached. This generally means that by checking local news and public records a medical record can be identified to an individual.

The trouble is that state public health agencies received an exemption from the federal law, formally the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, enacted in 1996. The privacy rules took effect in 2003, though they apply only to health-care providers, insurers, billing and claims processors and their contractors. Most law enforcement agencies and courts have unfettered access to your medical records if they need them. When they do access your medical records, this has to be noted along with the reason, but these are allowed by law.

It sounds to me like new laws are in order, to punish states that violate citizens' privacy.