Medical Records

CCHF Urges States to Protect Citizens’ Health Information

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) announced earlier this month it will not regulate the nationwide health information network, or NHIN, through formal rule-making, instead offering “a framework of principles and good practice models” to help guide deployment without hindering the implementation. The NHIN is designed to share patient health data among insurers and all types of health providers that an individual may seek treatment from. The nationwide network will interact with all state and individual provider networks, to....

CCHF: Exchange Data Sharing Promotes Major Privacy Intrusions

ST. PAUL, Minn. – KEY FACTS:
•    Minnesota currently leads state health insurance exchange implementation with its recently signed, $41 million contract with Maximus, Inc.
•    Contract details follow federal regulations and provide a glimpse at what information must be shared based on the law.
•    Information shared with federal agencies by state health insurance exchanges based on the Enroll UX 2014 initiative is intrusive and compromises patient privacy.

State Exchanges: A Ruse for National Registration of Insurance Status

ST. PAUL, M.N. – As states begin to process and plan for the implementation of “American Health Benefit Exchanges,” otherwise known as state health exchanges, the reality of the end of personal health privacy is being realized by individual citizens. The Citizens' Council for Health Freedom has produced a detailed diagram that shows exactly how each individual state exchange is connected back to the federal government, creating a federal registration system that involves every American.

CCHF Denounces Current Push to Implement Unique Patient ID

ST. PAUL Minn. – The 1996 passage of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) entailed a hotly contested mandate to issue each and every American a Unique Patient Identifier, or UPI, number. The new form of medical identification would identify every patient, link their medical records, and allow for broad sharing, monitoring research, and analysis of the American public through the Nationwide Health Information Network, or NHIN. Public outcry against the UPI forced Congress to prohibit funding for the card, in order to stop its implementation.

National Patient ID

After a 1998 federal hearing caused a public outcry, Congress prohibited the use of federal dollars to create the unique patient identifier (UPI). However, the law has not been repealed, and in response to new 2009 federal funding to establish a nationwide health information network (NHIN), government agencies, corporations, organizations and the health IT industry have banded together anew to advance a national patient ID card.

NwHIN Governance in the Works; Public has One Week Left to Comment

ST. PAUL, Minn. – With only one week left for the public to comment to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) about potential governance mechanisms for the proposed Nationwide Health Information Network, the Citizens Council for Health Freedom (CCHF) is encouraging all Americans to act in opposition to the nationwide network.

Don’t Sign: HIPAA Shares Patient Data 
with 2.2 Million Organizations

St. Paul, Minn.— It happens to all of us each time we go to the doctor. A piece of paper is pushed across the desk for us to sign, acknowledging our receipt of the “privacy practices” of the hospital, doctor’s office or clinic. 

Patient Medical Privacy

EMRs Do Not Improve Care, Say 6 Out of 10 Doctors

Record Locator Service (RLS) Diagram

The Record Locator Service is part of a Health Information Exchange. When a patient's medical records are requested, the RLS moves out onto the network to find all medical records of that individual. Some states have patient consent requirements. Other states have none.