According to Business Week, health insurers and employers increasingly store patient and employee medical records in computer databases. Companies such as Intel, Walmart, and UPS offer financial incentives to employees who are willing to digitize their health records. Such a move certainly cuts costs associated with processing employee claims and benefits. But, at the same time, databases of health records expose individuals to the threat of medical identity theft. Incidents of imposters using victims’ health insurance for expensive surgeries are on the rise. Such fraud leaves victims with bills and medical histories that could jeopardize their future ability to obtain life insurance or disability insurance.
Despite the record number of data leaks and escalating threats to information security, Congress is considering legislation that would require hospitals to computerize medical records. Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, warns that medical identity theft will “grow the more we move toward an electronic health-care system. It’s going to be a disaster.” Congress must carefully consider the hazards of mandatory e-medical records. And, as Daniel Solove warns, any federal legislation should not preempt privacy-protecting measures at the state level.
Posted by Danielle Citron on January 16, 2007 at 12:02 AM