April 18, 2008
Warnings For Online Health Record Systems
An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, raises some concerns about using personal health records online and allowing them to be managed by third parties not bound by HIPAA regulations. The authors of the article point out that companies like Microsoft and Google are not bound by the privacy restrictions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act which was enacted in 1996 before Web-based health records systems like the ones Microsoft and Google offer were available.
According to a New York Times article, "the authors say that consumer control of personal data under the new, unregulated Web systems could open the door to all kinds of marketing and false advertising from parties eager for valuable patient information. Despite the warnings in the article, Drs Mandl and Kohane are enthusiastic about the potential benefits of Web-based personal health records, including a patient population of better-informed, more personally responsible health consumers."
NEJM Articles
Tectonic Shifts in the Health Information Economy (Abstract)
K. D. Mandl and I. S. Kohane
Electronic Health Records, Medical Research, and the Tower of Babel (abstract)
R. D. Kush, E. Helton, F. W. Rockhold, and C. D. Hardison
NJEM Commentary
Personally Controlled Online Health Data — The Next Big Thing in Medical Care?
Off the Record — Avoiding the Pitfalls of Going Electronic