Policy & Practice

Privacy Concerns

Health privacy is also a major issue. “We have really serious concerns about maintenance of medical records confidentiality” under laws such as the Patriot Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, Mr. Meyers said. “We are concerned about the ability of government agencies to snoop in people's health records.” In addition, the advent of electronic health records brings its own privacy concerns. “On the plus side, electronic records help reduce medical errors and assure that physicians are able to get real-time records about what kind of medications patients are on,” he said. “On the other hand, unless there are acceptable standards for the protection of records, such as informed consent with regard to their release, we are obviously concerned about what effect this has on patients.”