Electronic Health Records

Government Biosurveillance Plan Proposes Warehousing Americans’ Health Information

We’ve all heard talk of NSA surveillance, but there’s another surveillance that aims to track American’s health records. Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) is alerting Americans about the Obama Administration’s frightening biosurveillance (BSV) initiative, which would gather and analyze detailed health information that should be private and protected.

Obama’s Unbelieveable Press Conference

President Obama didn’t have a teleprompter. On November 14, the president held a press conference to announce that he was implementing yet another “administrative fix” to the Obamacare without the consent of Congress. When he got to the Q&A with reporters, it got interesting. More on that in a moment.

Obama’s Phony October 1 “Deadline”

October 1 is a phony deadline. Ignore it. Nobody has to sign up for Obamacare. Absolutely nothing has to happen on October 1. Instead, October 1 is the first day to refuse to enroll in Obama's exchanges (refuse2enroll.org). In six days, you can begin your own personal Obamacare resistance campaign. Our motto: Resist. Repeal. Reclaim.

ACA Allows Private Info to Be Stored and Accessed In Massive Federal Database

St. Paul, Minn.—One patient advocate has many concerns about Obamacare and the new state exchanges being created to implement the Affordable Care Act. But perhaps the most pressing concern for Twila Brase, co-founder of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, is the federal “System of Records (SRO),” an expansive, government-run database that will store Americans’ private information through the state exchanges.

Data Security in State Exchanges and Federal Hub is Impossible

CCHF maintains that the speed of implementation will result in insufficient data protections in a PPACA technology infrastructure that is a rich target for data thieves and that patient data will be compromised, and therefore implementation must be halted until patient data security can be assured.

The "5C" Health Care Solution

Do conservative organizations all sing the same health care tune? No, writes John Goodman at the National Center for Policy Analysis. In fact, I'd argue that sometime they are singing in complete dissonance.

MN Health Insurance Exchange Realities

Exchanges to Track Patients and Doctors - CMS Request for Comments

CMS has issued a request for comments, including a list of questions, on how to redesign health care through the Exchanges. It's under the rubric of Obamacare's "National Quality Strategy" (Section 3011) and it follows the Section 1311 requirement that Exchanges pay health plans more if they improve health outcomes through government reporting, case management, care coordination, chronic disease management, medication and care compliance initiatives, health IT, wellness activities, and reduction of "health disparities." Read the questions for clarity of intrusions to come.

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...."