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Feds Plan For 35 Agencies To Collect, Share, Use Health Records of Americans
cold fjord writes: The Weekly Standard reports, "This week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the release of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020, which details the efforts of some 35 departments and agencies of the federal government and their roles in the plan to 'advance the collection, sharing, and use of electronic health information to improve health care, individual and community health, and research.' ... Now that HHS has publicly released the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan, the agency is seeking the input from the public before implementation. The plan is subject to two-month period of public comment before finalization. The comment period runs through February 6, 2015." Among the many agencies that will be sharing records besides Health and Human Services are: Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Justice and Bureau of Prison, Department of Labor, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Personnel Management, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The NSA, CIA, and FBI.
" Among the many agencies that will be sharing records besides Health and Human Services are: Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Justice and Bureau of Prison, Department of Labor, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Personnel Management, National Institute of Standards and Technology."
In other words, almost everyone except YOU!
"Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
Although I knew that I would lose several civil rights, such as carrying a firearm, etc. I never believed that being put into the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons would mean that my personal health history would be shared across thirty-five departments. I do not mind this, and it does not surprise me. However, this is just another example of big brother making decisions that are outside of my control.
See my story at The Market is not Random.
-Anthony
-------
artlu.net
What could possibly go wrong?
Are these agencies going to be covered under HIPAA? Or is this going to be a big giant free for all?
Because this sounds like a huge list of agencies which may or may not have any experience in not sucking at handling this kind of data.
I predict this will more or less put the private information of pretty much everyone into pretty much every government agency, and that this will be hacked and leaked 10 ways from Sunday.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I'm so glad NASA is concerned about my health but I'm worried they may find out that I'm an alien.
This government of yours is getting out of control pretty quickly.
And with Momma Merkel this side of the pond piping hot on signing any kind of trade agreement coming from USA, it seems we're pretty busted.
Perhaps I'll have to move to Russia (don't get me wrong: Putin is an asshole and a dictator, but when dictatorship hinges on one exposed individual, one may hope that some illnes or a bullet does away with him; when dictatorship comes from this industrial-administrative-military-entertainey clusterfuck hope is pretty dim).
Depressing.
What could possibly go wrong? Nothing. it's for our own health and safety. Don't you want to stay healthy?
Are these agencies going to be covered under HIPAA?
Nice one, since when does any law apply when national security is at stake?
I predict this will more or less put the private information of pretty much everyone into pretty much every government agency, and that this will be hacked and leaked 10 ways from Sunday.
It already is, so what's the big deal?
Can somebody explain to me why the FCC and the FTC need access to my medical records?
Now do you understand why they pushed Obama care. There is no better way to make a person disapear than a natrual case of death. You can't protest today because you feel like shit after eating that hamburger yesterday. What was in it? Something just for you. See you in the morgue. Comrade.
Try to get lost in the crowd; not a chance the minute you go to get your meds from the local Fed_linked_Pharmacy.
I glade I'm about to die.
Oh shit... "behead" comes up on the Capcha!!!
For the love of god, we all know tablets and phones will get on this network. Please atleast choose a hardware solution that can't be rooted (referring to Blackberry phones that have not once been rooted).
And for the love of God, please actually use a company that is used to working with large amounts of data securely. 1) NO APPLE PRODUCTS. Use Google. Let them bid but require that they compartmentalize the work. Quite frankly, the network infrastructure should use Blackberry tech though.
Can't wait to how the gov't screws this up though.
Centralize all our data, and it will get "borrowed". Keep it widely scattered and in varying formats, and it will be too expensive to aggregate it all.
You were warned, but it's too late now.
No matter what cogent or coherent arguments are made against the consumption of citizen health information by government agencies, it's obvious the government is going to do it, anyway, then dare future lawmakers to stop it. The People of this country have valid opinions during elections, but become stupid, paranoid morons in between.
> I predict this will more or less put the private information of pretty much everyone into pretty much every government agency, and that this will be hacked and leaked 10 ways from Sunday.
Well of course. The question is, will it be hacked while it's in beta, or after it's officially launched?
Move to another country where privacy means more than a door on a commode stall. That's about the extent of available options.
Scruting the inscrutable for over 50 years.
It will be easier to leak which politicians/celebrities have an STD, Abortion, dildo in their ass. etc..
As slashdot is probably the most left-wing site* I lurk on, I am still bewildered by the naivety of the Obama base. This surprises you? You know today is asking for more "emergency" war powers? Again. Bow down to your emperor. How did Manson put it on Anti-Christ Superstar? - "get back your never going to leave him, get back your always going to please him"
*which in and off itself is amazing since most tech people despise the government. It must be a bay area thing. So note to "real" immigrants coming to the US to escape socialism - it matters where you move to.
Well, you guys wanted federal health care.
Please don't act all surprised when this information is used for all sorts of other purposes.
-Styopa
35 more ways for your private information to leak or be hacked.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
You're the tech guys, I'm the doctor. I can tell you this *needs* to happen, and it will save lives and keep me from ordering redundant tests. Don't argue with me about that.
Try to do the best job you can at ensuring security and stop whining about how it can never be a perfect job.
As a person, yes you should have a decision to opt out. Except as a doctor, I can assure you that is like exercising the right to smoke.. . Yes you can, if you realllly want to and realllly think it's more important than your doctor (e.g. In the er) knowing your kidneys shut down if you get a certain antibiotic.
Haven't seen a doctor in almost 20 years. No need to start now.
Privacy and and security seem to be an afterthought, at best, in these plans and associated documents. Given the fact that attacks on health care data are already growing at an alarming rate (as predicted by many analysts) and that the health care industry is 10-20 years behind financial services when it comes to security and fraud prevention, this plan seems premature. At the very least, it's stated goals need to place privacy and security at the forefront, for until that gap is closed, any effort to expand the footprint of such sensitive information is, to say the least, misguided.
IMHO, they should concentrate their efforts on fixing the fucked up situation with obamacare before haring off on another projects.
Adding another half-working POS project to the mix won't help anyone except the politicians getting bribes to award contracts and the slimy bastards touting their half-assed programming/db/integration skills as being top end.
The racist tyrants known as the Racist Democratic Party plan for 35 agencies to collect, share and abuse Health Records of Americans.
FTFY
Lets see them first manage the National Debt then they can manage my medical.
-Brought to you buy the very same people who vote for pay-raises, create laws, allowed Obama Care (Still haven't met anyone who has used it).
Wouldn't surprise me if the Government used your medical program for a secret Eugenics program. After all, Eugenics did exist under the North Carolina Government.
I know someone that used to work for one of the largest (and most respected) data brokers in the world.
They told me the broker has a whole department that is dedicated to blackhat hacking.
Why do you think their data is so valuable?
They pretty much have to do it, in order to stay relevant in the Day of the Facebook.
With all the complaints, I do wonder what percentage of US readers of this site are programmers, designers, computer scientists, etc., that are employed by the US Government. I would not be surprised that we are the majority. Still "the needs of the one" are still relevant also.
As a Jew your comment made me lol a little. What can I say I find racist people funny even when that racism is directed at me.
Well of course. The question is, will it be hacked while it's in beta, or after it's officially launched?
Not mutually exclusive
The racist tyrants known as the Racist Democratic Party plan for 35 agencies to collect, share and abuse Health Records of Americans.
FTFY
QuackquackquackquackLibruldemocratquackquackquacktakeourfreedomsquackquack
You have some very valid points. And I pretty much agree with you, but what the ACA has done that I really like is make it illegal to be denied insurance for pre-existing conditions.
I was once on Paxil and self employed. When I was shopping for medical insurance, I told the first agent about the Paxil. He said that I couldn't get any health insurance at all - yes, because of the Paxil, I was uninsurable. He then said that I should find another agent and do not mention the Paxil. This was in the late 90s.
Of course you can't do that anymore because of the Medical Information Bureau (MIB.com). Anything and everything that you do through your insurance is recorded there.
So, if you become lord emperor lgw and implement your ideas, I beg you to keep pre-existing conditions insurable.
Before we cower in fear because ZOMG EVERYONE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ME....lets consider some things:
-there has been a push for a long time to move medical records to electronic format. we've been promised cost reductions as a result, as well has better/quicker care
-most health records still paper instead of electronic. the move to electronic records has largely been a failure; one reason is the resulting cost reductions that have been promised have been slow to materialize, if theyve materialized at all.
-those that are, are not in some large nationwide or accessible database
-under federal law personal health information is private and cannot be released to outside parties without consent
-under federal law any information that is released must be anonymized; ie, no SSN or names or other personally identifiable information
-google facebook and other data miners probably already know more about your current health needs than these records would tell someone, and they already associate it with you (ie, their data isnt anonymous)
So we're not talking about the FBI or NSA using this to find out you have irritable bowel syndrome.
(chances are they already know from other sources like Facebook anyway...*tin foil hat*).
and they likely wouldnt care anyway (life is not a hollywood movie).
No, its not readily apparent why the Dept of Ag might need health data.
But health researchers absolutely. And they get anonymized health data already.
But if we considered something like antibiotic resistance and hte theory that overapplication to livestock is a factor, I could see a scenario where health researchers partner with Dept of Ag to study the effects of antibiotic usage on livestock.
In fact the anonymous nature of this data is a big factor in the outrage over the House bills just a week or two ago that purported to "ban secret science" by requiring full disclouse over everything, and banning agencies from making decisions based on "secret science or data". This would have the efect of banning hte CDC or other health agencies from making decisions based on research using this anonymous data....data that is anonymous because of privacy laws. Effectively hamstringing the agencies compeltely.
All in all, teh cowering in fear and conspiracy reactions to this are just FUD.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
I agree with you there. I think people like Mel Brooks and Dave Chappelle have done more to combat racism than anyone else.
Will gladly sell it all to private companies, copyrights and all!
By the way, it's not discrimination if you don't actually know your DNA or family's medical history is what ensured you're uninsured!
From peoples reactions it is readily apparent they are not reading the article, and those that are are focusing on the handful of agencies that stick out ignoring that most of them are health related agencies.
Just another typical day on /.
The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
Absolutey FUCKING NOT
I demand my right to my health privacy.
Give me liberty or give me death.
Does anyone else find it odd that EPA is not included?
My understanding of epidemiology infers that healthy outcomes are a function of the environment?
Why would the EPA not be part of this? Why would the pollution permitted by EPA to detriment of public health not be a function of health data?
It's rather presumptive of you, and every other Democrat, to pretend to know people's interests better than they do. It's part of the unmistakable arrogance that comes from the left, and was perfectly displayed by Gruber. You and your fellow leftists are cut from the same cloth as every other human, but you whip each other up with flattery on how kind, intelligent and compassionate you are for simply being on the left. Whether ruin or prosperity follows your policy actions isn't terribly important. You had the best intentions, you see, and the books can always be cooked after the fact to hide any negative news that doesn't fit the narrative.
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms should be the name of a store, not a government agency.
Why the heck would DoD need to know my health status?? WTF??
EVERY leftist government ALWAYS goes for "national healthcare" because:
1. It's an easy sell to the gullible masses who are offered the promise of free doctors and medicine, and it's easy to use to convince those masses that opponents of left-wing policies are "mean" and don't want them to have healthcare.
2. It's a huge chunk of any modern economy, so controlling it means controlling much of the economy
3. Control of health means access to all the health-related data on people - which then makes controlling and manipulating them easier
4. When you control somebody's access to healthcare, you control their life. How many people are willing to stand up to the person who can prevent them from seeing a doctor or getting their needed medicines?
Americans have always been a free (as in speech, not as in beer) people and are going to be very shocked in the years ahead particularly as things like the IPAB (the death panels) kick-in and start telling people what procedures and medicines they can have (effectively telling the old and the sick to just go away and die unless they are part of some politically-favored group. Do you really want all the government agencies you interact with to know every detail of your health? Are you comfortable with the IRS auditors knowing that you have a heart problem? Do you want the police to know that you have a problem with the arteries in your neck and might just happen to have a stroke if mishandled in just the right/wrong way? (were you planning to be at a protest?)
Perhaps they need to decide if you have any health conditions that cause you to emit more greenhouse gasses than other people; The EPA now has the legal authority to stop any emitter of CO2 from emitting any more, including seizure of all CO2 emitting equipment and destruction thereof - and WITHOUT even a court hearing.
Has any individual ever been held responsible for a privacy leak?
Gone to jail? Paid a fine? Flogged in the village square?
Would it make a difference if a particular person or group would be named as the responsible party and dire consequences would result from any leak? Consequences including loss of income, fines, jail time and never being able to take a similar job? OTOH, if they do the job well, they are well paid and respected.
Why wouldn't Sony or Target or a big government agency want this?
This is exactly what the airline industry does. They have a fall guy for every airline disaster. 'Pilot error.' That way the manufacturer, the airline, the maintenance company and all the 'too big to fail' companies are free to continue and the man with no voice takes the hit.
We know that the pilot does his best, regardless of the challenge. He knows the penalty for failure is severe. Management and IT professionals in charge of security should face serious consequences for failure as well.
...omphaloskepsis often...
Great, my data is protected by federal laws.
So what happens when there's an "unauthorized release" of your data by a federal agency?
Nothing!
That's why the laws on "unauthorized release" are bogus when you're talking about the government. No penalty = no enforcement = no care.
The TLA agencies care about your data when they need to ensure your cooperation with an ongoing investigation.
If you like your insurance you can keep your insurance. ...
If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor.
If you like your privacy you can keep your privacy.
If you like your freedom
Thank You, Jonathan Gruber
Obamistas believe they had to lie to pass Obamacare because Americans are stupid.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
The material linked from this article is not entirely clear about the privacy implecations. The article talks about giving individual patients more ability to specify exactly what data about them is shared. They also talk about standardization of health information but that was actually part of HIPAA from the beginning. They talk about security a little more than they would if this were only anonymous data but they probably are mainly talking about anonymous, aggregate infomation.
HIPAA requires that PHI (anything which is both personally identifyable and has diagnostic information) is provided on a need-to-know basis. Even if you are the patient's direct care provider, you are not supposed to look at records without a reason. When you transfer records, they have to be de-identified if de-identified information is sufficient for the purpose. The vast majority of what they are discussing in this "Strategic Plan" can and should involve only de-identified information.
Unlike the common, disingenuous, privacy policies of many web sites, HIPAA lists both specific and general requirements for de-identifying information so that it can not be re-identified. These measures go a long way but are not perfect. I wish I could give a specific example from my own research experience but I shouldn't because the most interesting case is currently being looked at by an Institutional Review Board (IRB.) Suffice it to say that I want to merge some data sets from different institutions which have used different anonymous identifyers but have some overlap in patients. HIPAA requires that anonymous tokens be issued on a one-off basis and not reused from one study to the next. However, I think that the different data sets have enough information to link the anonymous identifiers to each other (although not back to the actual patients.) So the question before the IRB is whether going ahead and linking those identifiers would be a HIPAA violation or has the damage already been done.
At one point in time I thought to myself, "Self, you work in the field of computers. Your hands are clean! You don't destroy whole habitats, wipe out species, beat innocents on the streets, end unborn life, lie to the masses, steal from the poor, etc." Yet more and more evil fucking things arise from our supposedly safe and clean computer world. Fucking damn it, what is next that the world can ruin for me? I watch way too many dystopian movies for me to trust any of this big brother shit.
"Among the many agencies that will be sharing records besides Health and Human Services are: Department of Agriculture, Department of Defense, Department of Education, Department of Justice and Bureau of Prison, Department of Labor, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Office of Personnel Management, National Institute of Standards and Technology."
Nowhere in the reference document does it say this! These departments are listed as having been consulted in the writing of the plan. There is no mention of sharing data with these departments. You are reading what you want to read into this.
Furthermore, this is not a new plan. This is a continuation of a process that was started with the HITECH Act in 2009. The first goal was to convert to electronic medical records. While not all organizations have completed the transition, there is now a critical mass that data can start to be shared effectively between providers, hospitals, researchers and, yes, HHS. According to HIPAA, data that is used for research purposes MUST be de-identified.
So, while you may object to your PHI being used by researchers and HHS in any form, let's stick with the facts instead of creating unnecessary fear based on nonfactual statements.
Yet more government maneuvering so they can violate the HIPAA laws. Personally I liked the bad old days where doctors kept physical records and if some intrusive government agency wanted to view my profile it required probable cause and a warrant. Now all medical data has to be kept "in the cloud", transmitted along data lines compromised by corrupt agencies like the NSA and GCHQ. Stored on insecure government servers where they can be freely downloaded, erased, or altered by every Juvenal malcontent or criminal around the world. Please tell me, what is so awe inspiring about my medical records that the Administration of Community Living, Department of Agriculture, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Chief Technology Officer, and the rest of the agencies on this list (95% of which have little or nothing to do with health), MUST have access to?
Even though they like to tell you about their rugged individualist libertarian techno streak. It's all bullshit and arguing the point here @ /. is pointless. Obama Uber Alles.
If Bush hadn't screwed up in Iraq, and John McCain wasn't gung ho to stay in Iraq for 100 years, the Democrats would have swept into the Senate and the presidency. The large numbers needed to pass ACA. Maybe the ACA can be purged from the lands.
I am glad America is mostly out of Iraq. The Iranian backed shia militias are now attacking ISIS instead of American troops :)
I don't think Gruber's admissions changed things. Most Republicans didn't believe Gruber's arguments in the first place. Many Democrats think the ACA doesn't go far enough.
I guess if you are referring to those 'independent' voters, then yes, they were deceived.
This looks like a weird idea. European countries with socialized healthcare do not have medical records shared among a bunch of state agencies. In most countries there is not even an electronic record.
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Now the government will be able to sort out those who are a potential health risk to the rest of the people who have been able to afford the benefits of health care and who don't have "any problems" to critically judge and outcast those with public health concerns like HIV, AIDS and Ebola. Finally, we can all rest assured that the government (whose track record has obviously been so clean with something as important like the justice system) can now make everyone painfully aware of the diseases others may carry around us so we can exercise discrimination and critical judgment without fear this will create another device to further divide people and allow the "haves" to keep controlling the "have-nots". Bravo guys... keep up the great work as usual! (this is obviously sarcasm, but sometimes you have to remind people it's sarcasm or they don't catch it and go up in arms with some rant, opposing other peoples views... we're a team people so keep it civil)
HIPA was supposed to regulate the sharing of personal healthcare records. Obviously, such limitations only apply to parents and family members who are precluded in certain instances from seeing or participating in their own minor-children (and college student age) children's healthcare, among other instances of extreme intrusion in family matters. Yet such information can be shared freely among strangers and essentially the entire audience of federal government employees. Oh, "but it's protected information only by those with a 'need to know'". Tell that to the ham-fisted law enforcement, or NSA policy makers who continue to spy on Americans who live and work even within the CONUS. More lies, and damn lies... Is there any doubt why our government leaders (all of them) have little credibility remaining.