eNews Commentary • May 2014 • • Government Programs • Health Surveillance • Medical Records • National Health Information Network (NHIN) • National Health Systems • Patient Privacy • Population Health Care

Biosurveillance One Health

May 1, 2014

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National BioSurveillance Plan Revealed

I recently stumbled upon two alarming initiatives. One is called “One Health,” which I describe in more detail below. The other comes from the Obama Administration. Called the National Strategy for Biosurviellance, it specifically states,

“A well-integrated, national biosurveillance enterprise is a national security imperative.”

Now the administration wants your comments on a related biosurveillance document. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is taking public comments on the draft of the proposed National Health Security Strategy 2015-2018, which incorporates the National Strategy for Biosurveillance. DEADLINE: Wed., MAY 21, 2014 (5:00 p.m. ET).

Either now or after you read this, I’d like to ask you to click here and make the following simple statement as a public comment. After you read farther into this post, you’ll see why:

“I oppose the One Health/One World Initiative being incorporated into this draft in Priority 3.1 and I oppose the proposed biosurveillance and global sharing of my private medical data with federal, state, and international public health officials and others without my written informed consent.”

A gift of $35, $50, $100 or more today would greatly help to support our efforts to keep you engaged in the battle against government health surveillance!

What is biosurveillance? According to the Strategy, biosurveillance (BSV) is defined as “the process of gathering, integrating, interpreting, and communicating essential information related to all-hazards threats or disease activity affecting human, animal, or plant health to achieve early detection and warning, contribute to overall situational awareness of the health aspects of an incident, and to enable better decision making at all levels.”

Biosurveillance is clearly a major reason the Obama Administration mandated in the 2009 Recovery Act (“economic stimulus”) that every doctor and hospital use computerized patient medical records or face financial penalties.

The June 14, 2013 National Biosurveillance Science and Technology Roadmap to implement the Strategy discusses the need for “examination of data from electronic medical records” and calls for “cooperation among Federal and non-federal stakeholders, including the scientific community and public and private healthcare providers…to achieve an efficient and reliable surveillance system.”

The members of the Roadmap’s four sub-working groups are listed on four pages and come from a virtual “Who’s Who” of federal government agencies, including HHS, Department of Defense, Department of Commerce, VA, FDA, EPA, NIH, CDC, Department of Agriculture, Homeland Security, National Park Services and more.

The EHR is key to biosurveillance. The federal government has already “establish[ed] a detailed data sharing framework for electronic health record information technology systems to encourage use of systems that would provide public health information directly to a public health authority.” This means your medical records would be shared with government officials.

Does the Biosurveillance Roadmap protect your privacy? No. Here’s what it says about privacy:

“Health data in electronic form have significant value for BSV since they provide an opportunity for more timely recognition of clinical signs in clusters of humans animals, and plants that may provide an early indication of an emerging health incident. Effectively, appropriately, and securely sharing health event data, including parts of electronic patient records and laboratory data, has significant potential to improve national awareness of incidents that could progress to impact national security.

“However, a number of data-sourcing challenges exist. For example, data on human health can be collected from numerous types of patient management systems, laboratory information systems, and insurance systems, but there is a need for comprehensive terminology standardization across the spectrum of sources to ease data fusion and analysis while protecting the privacy of personal health data.” [Emphasis added.]

This is not privacy. Officials want a “near-real-time” reporting requirement for electronic data systems. What is a “health threat” (otherwise called an “incident”) that could jeopardize our “national health security” and will be monitored using the proposed biosurveillance system? According to the National Health Security Strategy 2015 – 2018 (NHSS), it could include:

Terrorist activities
Antibiotic resistance
Climate change
Economic environment.

Vast data sharing is planned. Priority Areas in “Health Situational Awareness,” which will be facilitated by collecting “Many types of health-related and non-health-related data,” includes Priority 3.1 (“Improve surveillance systems and data-sharing…”) under which various activities are required, including:

· Federal partners will ensure One Health is integrated into the PH&M [Public Health and Medical (PH&M) Situational Strategy] situational awareness strategy and in the activities performed under the National Strategy for Biosurveillance and the National Biosurveillance Strategy for Human Health. [Activity 3.1.3]

· Federal partners will and nonfederal partners can fund or carry out research priorities under One Health relevant areas identified by the 2013 National Biosurveillance Science and Technology Roadmap. [Activity 3.1.4]

· Nonfederal partners can represent animal and environmental health perspectives in deliberations over the design of new electronic health information systems. [Activity 3.1.5] [Emphasis added]

What is One Health? The One Health Initiative subtitle, according to its web page is, “One World, One Medicine, One Health.” One Health will “unite human and veterinary medicine.” The Initiative “is a movement to forge co-equal, all inclusive collaborations between physicians, osteopaths, veterinarians, dentists, nurses and other scientific-health and environmentally related disciplines.” More specifically:

“The One Health concept is a worldwide strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment. The synergism achieved will advance health care for the 21^st century and beyond by accelerating biomedical research discoveries, enhancing public health efficacy, expeditiously expanding the scientific knowledge base, and improving medical education and clinical care. When properly implemented, it will help protect and save untold millions of lives in our present and future generations.”

Collaborators with One Health include, “the American Medical Association, American Veterinary Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Nurses Association, American Association of Public Health Physicians, the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the U.S. National Environmental Health Association (NEHA). Additionally, more than 700 prominent scientists, physicians and veterinarians worldwide have endorsed the initiative.”

Please take the time to make a public comment. Let’s let government officials know we’ve discovered their biosurveillance plans and aren’t going to just stand by while they try to undo patient privacy -- and potentially American sovereignty.

Help CCHF continue to keep you informed and able to effectively engage on vital issues of freedom like stopping biosurveillance and government intrusion. Send a generous gift of $35, $100 or $500 today!

Working with you to stop government intrusions,

Twila Brase

President and Co-founder

CCHFREEDOM.ORG