The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT will soon be releasing the results of a survey that inquired into patient concerns about the electronic exchange of their protected health data (iHealthBeat, 1/10/2013). The 16-question survey asked what patients would want to know before allowing healthcare providers to access their protected health information through electronic health information exchanges. Preliminary results show that, among other things, patients would want to know: i) whether their clinical information would be shared with insurance companies, ii) whether sensitive data like mental health or STD records would be available on the electronic exchange, and iii) whether they would have the option to withdraw their information from the exchange. Stay tuned for the public release of final results in the early spring.
Laura Anne Taylor
J.D. Candidate, Class of 2014
S.J. Quinney College of Law
University of Utah