Slashdot Mirror
Transcriber Threatens Release of Medical Records
talboito writes "David Lazarus of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on problems subcontracting sensitive data to outside firms. An unpaid Pakistani transcriber threatened to release medical records of patients at UCSF Medical Center on the internet. The article notes: 'U.S. laws maintain strict standards to protect patients' medical data. But those laws are virtually unenforceable overseas, where much of the labor-intensive transcribing of dictated medical notes to written form is being exported.' Most frightening, UCSF was unaware that its records were being sent overseas. The article traces their path backward through a chain of three different subcontractors."
Isn't HIPPA supposed to protect us from this type of thing?
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
Any time you pass on potentially sensitive data onto a third party there is the opening for abuse of this nature. When you outsource you are at the mercy of the contracted party and their security measures (if any) become your security measures. Add to that sub-contractors... Big freakin' mess.
Certain information should remain in the USA and not be contracted out. Ever. Looks to me that this whole fad of out-sourcing overseas has just come back to bite people in the ass. Maybe now some of the fools will learn that the old addage "Charity begins at home" is a good idea: keep those jobs here; the costs aren't in just dollars saved or wages paid.
The article describes what amounts to a chain of subcontractors handling the medical transcriptions. The top of the chain is a firm in Sausalito handling medical transcriptions, which hired a subcontractor in Texas, who then farms out work to a network of subcontractors -- which led to the woman in Pakistan.
I think the guy in Texas should be held liable, no? He's the one playing fast and loose with patient privacy, and I can't imagine he has no legal culpability here.
Anyone out there have an understanding of the legal framework for something like this?
quiquid id est, timeo puellas et oscula dantes.
Even worse! They SELL the info to drug companies!
I once mentioned a certain problem (side effect of a drug) to a doctor. 7 years ago or so. I was not being treated for it, but he wrote in in his notes. Lo and behold, a month later, I start getting ads in my mail from drug companies for this problem. Not something common. I told the doctor and he was in shock. He agreed that the transcription company must have sold the info. He refused to follow up on it, as did I. In retrospect, I could have caused a stink, but I'm not at all convinced I would have gotten any satisfaction.
I strongly suggest taking your lawyer with you on all doctor's visits. I now review doctor's notes completely (after transcription) and force them to make corrections. It is amazing what sorts of errors the transcription companies make in the notes. And this is what insurance companies look at when you apply for insurance.
In all, I'm pretty frightened of the medical system after a couple of incidents. I avoid the system at all costs. The funny thing is that it is this fear of the system, not of disease, that has actually prompted my very healthy lifestyle. I don't ever want to have to depend on that system for anything. Even the "nice good" doctors who are a part of it are to blame for idly sitting by and letting it all happen. They like to pretend that they are just pawns in a bigger game. Not!
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
I know of a particular BIG insurance company here in Texas that outsources a LOT of their core work overseas. This company happens to cater to members of the US armed forces and civil service employees. When people get deployed or move, they have to call this company to have all their addresses changed.
To think... now India and Pakistan probably now have a good listing of where a lot of our US service members are located. It's glad that India and Pakistan are our "aliies" or we'd really be in the shit now...
Just wait until this thing gets a bit wider publicity. You can be sure that holding individuals for ransom from the developing country for a developed product will get more and more common due to the copycat factor. I have a funny feeling that this is only the beginning of a large landslide.
Even worse, wait until outsourced hardware design starts showing how faulty it can be. Where engineers can be held responsible for products that overheat and kill over here, imagine if someone in a third-world country decides to be lazy and not put overcurrent protection on a device in a certain mode that UL safety guidelines happen to not specifically cover. People could end up having their houses burn down. Now, while the company can be held liable, what about the engineer? He can just disappear into the background noise, never be held responsible, and never become an example to others in his community of what happens when a product is shoddily engineered to meet a raw cost objective.
I think there is some optimism that comes from this story, however. It may yet prove that outsourcing is an enormous mistake for many companies. Particularly when the spectre of massive lawsuits is involved, I think that insurance companies will get increasingly involved in these situations. The cost advantages of outsourcing never factored in the increased liability risks presented to the company from the antics and poor quality of work of their outsourced workers in the first place. I don't like insurance companies any more than the next person, but neither do I think insurance companies have discovered to what degree their insured could be subjected to precisely these types of scenarios. Maybe what the geek community could do is start a campaign to inform insurance companies and their actuaries of these situations in order to raise the rates of companies who outsource. Maybe - just maybe - they could once again swing the balance of favor towards workers here.
Buying a car last year, the saleswoman had a question on some of the forms.
She asked a more senior salesperson...
I overheard:
"Yes, we have to fill that in very carefully, so the transcribers in Mexico can enter it in the computer properly."
This, with a technically US-based bank loaning the money.
Now...nothing against Mexico, per se, but shipping *my* info over the border for processing just to save a buck or two is ridiculous.