Medical Privacy Laws Highly Ineffectual

Rick Zeman writes "According to the Washington Post, since Americans gained statutory privacy for their medical records backed by the US Federal Government (via HIPAA), the Bush administration has received thousands of complaints alleging violations but has not imposed a single civil fine and has prosecuted just two criminal cases saying that they were pursuing 'voluntary compliance.'" From the article: "'It's like when you're driving a car,' said consultant Gary Christoph of Teradata Government Systems of Dayton, Ohio. 'If you are speeding down the highway and no one is watching, you're much more likely to speed. The problem with voluntary compliance is, it doesn't seem to be motivating people to comply.'"

Comments

I'd modify this story's title this way:

[bogaboga]

Since http://www.slashdot.org/ is read through out the world, I'd modify this story's title to read...

Medical Privacy Laws [in the USA] Highly Ineffectual

Slashdotters all over the world are smart enough to know that the problem with those medical records is largely a local problem. That is to say, it is a US problem and not a problem for the whole world. Here in Sweden, we have no such trouble.

Re:Why HIPPA is broken

[callistra.moonshadow]

Sure, I agree that there are reasons for HIPPA. I used to work at a firm that required HIPPA certification and I hold a current HIPPA cert. What is troublesome is how the HIPPA laws are used to either avoid dealing with things that are broken, or that they don't necessarily protect the so-called protected information. It could also lead to a person's death if not handled by someone that can bend the rules when the exceptions arise. That's what has me concerned - the lack of a plan for when things don't flow through the gates as expected. It has nothing to do with which adminstration is in power and everything to do with what makes logical sense. The way a hospital enforces HIPPA is broken - at least in my opinion from personal experience.

More than you know: you *are* a number

[Just Some Guy]

According to HIPAA, at least as of a couple years ago, no privacy violation was too small. Including, say, a nurse coming to the waiting room and asking for "Mrs. Smith". After all, Mr. Jones sitting next to her would then know that woman's name. Instead, the only proper method for calling patients back to the treatment rooms is installing one of those "take a number" dispensers, then calling patients by number.

Never mind that we live in a small town where Mrs. Smith and Mr. Jones went to kindergarten together and come from families that have been here for 150 years. And forget that my wife is a podiatrist and that visiting her isn't inherently compromising (unlike, say, sitting in the lobby of a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases).

So, according to HIPAA, my wife is breaking the law each and every time she treats her patients like people instead of numbers. We haven't had a complaint yet and don't expect to, but could technically be busted for violating Mrs. Jones's privacy at any moment.