Hospitals Give Tech Giants Access to Detailed Medical Records

I don't post much here but enjoy reading the posts. I know there are at least a few fellow Libertarians that post hear so I was wondering if others had the same angry/worrisome reaction to this that I did. I thought our medical records were protected - at 50 years old I guess I'm still naive. This really bothers the hell out of me. Am I overreacting? Thoughts?

I also would like to know if anyone out there is ok with it. I understand the possibility to help form better treatments and improve heathcare, I just think the misuse is >>>> greater than the potential societal gains.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/hospita...=hp_lista_pos3LINK

I can't read the entire article w/o registering... and I have ZERO intention of giving my email address to the WSJ, however I could read the first paragraph. I see no reason Microsoft, IBM and Amazon (really...Amazon needs my medical records??). However I fully expect this to go nowhere here, and be challenged based on HIPAA.

The Ancestry compares give their data to the feds unless you opt out, all innocently done to build a “database”.

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Originally Posted by Catfan73

The Ancestry.com compares give their data to the feds unless you opt out, all innocently done to build a “database”.

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we did the "23 and me" and were sure to opt out. I still get tons of spam though to try to get me to include my data. There are LOTS of questions concerning this. Not sure I want my DNA profile out there but my father wanted to do his family genealogy so I agree, however my wife was "NO WAY"

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Originally Posted by Catfan73

The Ancestry compares give their data to the feds unless you opt out, all innocently done to build a “database”.

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That's why I won't use their services. I'm curious, I'm not that curious.

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Originally Posted by Doc

I can't read the entire article w/o registering... and I have ZERO intention of giving my email address to the WSJ, however I could read the first paragraph. I see no reason Microsoft, IBM and Amazon (really...Amazon needs my medical records??). However I fully expect this to go nowhere here, and be challenged based on HIPAA.

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Thats what I thought too regarding HIPPA. It's a long areticle. Here are some excerpts:



"Hospitals can share patient data as long as they follow federal privacy laws, which contain limited consumer protections, she said. “The data belongs to whoever has it.”


"Microsoft and Providence, a hospital system with data for about 20 million patient visits a year, are developing cancer algorithms by using doctor’s notes in patient medical records. The notes haven’t been stripped of personally identifiable information, according to Providence, which is based in Renton, Wash."


"Microsoft executive Peter Lee in July described how his company would use Providence patient data without identifying information for algorithm development. In a December statement, he said patients’ personal health data remains in Providence’s control and declined to comment further. B.J. Moore, Providence’s chief information officer, said executives involved in the agreement at first planned to use data without information identifying patients; later they found they couldn’t remove it all from doctors’ notes. “It was not intended to mislead,” he said."


"Dr. David Feinberg, head of Google Health, said Google is one of many companies with hospital agreements that allow the sharing of personally identifiable medical data to test products used in treatment and operations. The companies typically don’t disclose their use of such data, Dr. Feinberg said. “We didn’t hide it.”


"The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, lets hospitals confidentially send data to business partners related to health insurance, medical devices and other services. The law requires hospitals to notify patients about health-data uses, but they don’t have to ask for permission.

Data that can identify patients—including name and Social Security number—can’t be shared unless such records are needed for treatment, payment or hospital operations. Deals with tech companies to develop apps and algorithms can fall under these broad umbrellas. Hospitals aren’t required to notify patients of specific deals.

“The patient doesn’t have absolute control. They don’t have much control,” said Ellen Wright Clayton, a Vanderbilt University biomedical ethics professor.

Under HIPAA, hospitals must divulge as little as possible about patients under agreements. But in some cases, the minimum amount needed by tech companies can be everything in patients’ records.

Medical records are the property of the physician. They are not the clients records. Patients legally can get a copy but the records themselves belong to the doctor.