Patient Privacy

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."

Exchanges: Compromise Privacy, Provide Federal Agencies Control

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Now that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) mainly constitutional, primary components such as health insurance exchanges are being pushed at the state level. But implementation of these exchanges creates new and lasting challenges, adding $340 billion to the nation’s deficit and creating $17 trillion in long-term, unfunded liabilities that will burden the already floundering economy. Perhaps even more disturbing is the intrusion into patient privacy that these exchanges allow.

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.

As Health Records Go Digital, Where They End Up Might Surprise You

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