The privacy of medical records, which has long been a comfort zone for patients, might change if vendors succeed in digitizing patient information. The Wall Street Journal reports that insurance companies are trying to build data bases from patient claims that would be immune to HIPPA. According to the Associated Press Google has entered into an agreement to store up to 10,000 records of volunteers from the Cleveland Clinic. Although the records are described as password protected, questions are bubbling about piracy, and privacy, and how information about prescriptions and medical histories will be used for marketing.
HIPPA laws make it impossible for doctors to speak to family, or even to one another, without a signed release (often at considerable inconvenience). But this shield apparently disintegrates once someone agrees to transfer to a third party for storage.
