EHRs Offer Benefits, but Privacy Risks Remain

EHRs Offer Benefits, but Privacy Risks Remain June 12, 2006
There are many benefits associated with electronic health record adoption, but centralizing patient information also poses privacy risks that must be addressed, according to a column in Monday's Boston Globe. EHRs would ensure that prescriptions are more legible and filled accurately, and they would reduce repetitive medical tests and help public health officials identify disease outbreaks and track their spread. In addition, EHRs would minimize adverse drug interactions and other errors and give scientists "access to a gold mine of data about diseases," according to the Globe. However, Dr. Deborah Peel, a psychoanalyst and founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, said, "If privacy is not fully protected, we won't be building anything except the most valuable motherlode of information for data mining on earth." She added, "If the Veterans Administration can't prevent the theft of 26 million names and Social Security numbers from an electronic file, why would any patient believe their personal sensitive health data is safe online?" To further the national health IT effort, HHS has formed the American Health Information Community, an advisory panel that oversees four HHS workgroups leading national EHR initiatives. However, there is only one consumer representative on the 17-member panel, the Globe reports. To guarantee that patients have sufficient privacy and control over their health records, "more could be done to increase consumer participation in the e-health records process," said Ray Campbell, a privacy advocate and executive director of the Massachusetts Health Data Consortium. A major issue is how centralized health information databanks should be, according to the Globe. John Halamka, CIO for Harvard Medical School and chair of the Health IT Standards Panel, said a "very decentralized approach" has worked well so far. Also, he recommended that only limited information, such as names, birth dates and indications to where care has been given be kept in regional databases. "The good news is that the push to make medical records electronic is still a work in progress," according to the Globe. "It's not too late for more consumer voice" (Foreman, Boston Globe, 6/12).