News Feature

Privacy Concerns Could Stop Electronic Medical Records

By Michael Fitzgerald

April 01, 2006 — CIO —

First came the news that Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston had been mistakenly faxing confidential medical records to a local investment bank over a period of six months. Then, on the very same day in February, the press reported that U.S. doctors had been faxing confidential patient information to a small Canadian distributor of herbal remedies, also by mistake.

Imagine if those sensitive medical records were electronic and mistakenly got zipped off to a company e-mail list. Or hacked by crackers.

That fear looms large for 86 percent of Americans, according to a recent survey by Health Industry Insights (HII), a unit of IDC (a sister company to CIO’s publisher).

“People are concerned about the ramifications of being treated for depression or having AIDS and having [that information] spill over into their personal lives and their jobs,” says Marc Holland, author of the survey and program director of Health Industry Insights.

HII surveyed 1,095 Americans on various aspects of electronic health records (EHRs). Among its findings, 86 percent of respondents said they were somewhat or very concerned about having their confidentiality breached if electronic health records become commonplace.

Holland said that without substantial public education efforts, fear over privacy would be a major challenge in getting people to use EHRs.

In addition, only 40 percent of those surveyed believed electronic health records would improve their care, and less than 35 percent thought EHRs would reduce the cost of care.

“What people don’t realize is that more people are killed by error than by cancer,” says Shannon Brownlee, Bernard F. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, a think tank in Washington, D.C. Brownlee says she doesn’t think that privacy issues will derail EHRs.

“Somehow we’ve managed to find ways to put our banking records online, take money out of a machine using a little wallet-sized card, and purchase goods over the Internet, all without an undue loss of financial privacy,” Brownlee says. “Why on earth wouldn’t we be able to find ways to keep medical records private?”

Comments

Share [+]

TOOLS

Comments

Digg This

SlashDot

CENTER OF EXCELLENCE

Security

» Prudential Financial Protects its Brand with Symantec Data Loss Prevention Solutions
FORTUNE 100 insurance leaders rely on the Symantec Data Loss Prevention solution to protect sensitive customer data.

» Information Security: Data Drains and How to Prevent Loss
Do you know where your confidential data is, where it is going, and how to prevent it from leaving your organization.

» Data Loss Prevention: Keeping Sensitive Data Out of the Wrong Hands
Learn what the thought-leaders at PricewaterhouseCoopers have to say on the risks associated with data security.

» 7 Requirements of Data Loss Prevention
Incorporate best practices from many companies using DLP solutions as you establish your organization's requirements and safeguard confidential data.

» Ponemon Study: How Much Does a Data Breach "Cost"?
35 U.S. organizations that lost confidential information and had a regulatory requirement to publicly notify affected individuals are studied in this report.

Center sponsored by