Patient Privacy

Impact of Obama’s Re-election on Implementation of the ACA

CDC Letter Requesting Tracking/Reporting of Tobacco Use & Immunizations, October 2012

As reported by Bloomberg/BNA's Health IT Law and Industry Report (10/29/12), Tom Frieden, director of the CDC wasnts doctors and hospitals to use EMRs to "track and refer tobacco users to public hotlines that offer support to patients working to quit smoking." In Stage 2 of "meaningful use" (MU), doctors and hospitals receive incentive payments if they record the smoking status of more than 80 percent of all patients 13 years or older. Patients may of course refuse to answer the questions or assist in the data collection.  The CDC letter also suggests that EHRs should "automatically retrieve information from immunization registries." Click to read the CDC's letter.

FDA Testifies to Six Deaths and 44 Injuries Related to Health IT

Jeffrey Shuren, FDA: "...To date, FDA has largely refrained from enforcing our regulatory requirements with respect to HIT devices. Nevertheless, certain HIT vendors have voluntarily registered and listed their software devices with the FDA, and some have provided submissions for premarket review. Additionally, patients, clinicians, and user facilities have voluntarily reported HIT-related adverse events. In the past two years, we have received 260 reports of HIT-related malfunctions with the potential for patient harm —including 44 reported injuries and 6 reported deaths. Because these reports are purely voluntary, they may represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the HIT-related problems that exist...."

CCHF Outlines What Exchange is for Legislative Committee

CCHF's president testified at a hearing regarding the state of Minnesota being able to take and use $42.5 million without legislative approval to continue the building of the health insurance exchange which was executive ordered by Governor Mark Dayton. CCHF describes what the exchange really is and why they need to stop it.

U.S. Senators Cite CCHF Position in Health IT Letter to HHS

Four U.S. Senators, including Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) sent a letter to HHS asking several questions about "the final rule fo rthe Stage 2 of Meaningful Use for the adoption of electronic health records." Doctors and hospitals can receive taxpayer funds for adopting EMRs. Penalties for failure to adopt EMRs begin in 2015. In their fourth and final bullet, the Senators cited an article, "More voices raised against EHR incentives," discussing CCHF's concerns about EHRs and MU.

Stop Pushing Health Data Online, It Doesn’t Reduce Costs or Improve Care

ST. PAUL, Minn. –Michael Grunwald recently wrote in Healthcare IT News that health IT was one of the most transformative programs promoted by President Obama’s $27 billion Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health – or HITECH – Act within the Recovery Act. By computerizing medical data under the guise of cost control and improved healthcare delivery, the U.S. government has been able to implement what HHS Secretary Sebelius called the “foundation” for Obamacare. 

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 to Present Written Testimony to U.S. House

ST. PAUL, Minn. – On Wednesday, September 12, 2012, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Ways and Means and its subcommittee on health will hold a hearing to learn more about the state implementation of health insurance exchanges. The Committee outlined in a hearing advisory that, without final guidelines from the Obama Administration on such issues as mandated benefits packages, expected enrollee costs, and other exchange-related information, uncertainty “threatens to saddle stakeholders with higher costs and also increases the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse.

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.

Exhibit D - Data Sharing Contract for MN Exchange

The $41 million contract between Maximus, Inc. and the State of Minnesota for the development of an ACA-compliant health insurance exchange includes several exhibits. EXHIBIT D is focused on data-sharing. The data to be shared by the State with the corporation is extensive. Maximus will create an Exchange that allows individual data to be shared with at least five federal agencies through the "federal data services hub."