Richard Pizzi of Healthcare IT News writes:
Researchers have created a set of computer programs that use electronic medical records to detect contagious illnesses and automatically report them to public health departments.
The new system, called Electronic Medical Record Support for Public Health, or ESP, was described in the April 11 issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a publication of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[…]
Platt said clinicians typically report diseases by filling out paper forms and mailing or faxing them to health authorities. Such work is time-consuming and has historically led to delays in disease reporting and even failure to report some cases altogether.
Researchers say the new system will save time by automatically scanning electronic medical records to identify cases and electronically report them to the health department on clinicians’ behalf. The system should also benefit health officials by providing more complete, timely and accurate disease reports.
[…]
ESP is designed to report seven different infections: active tuberculosis, acute hepatitis A, acute hepatitis B, acute hepatitis C, Chlamydia, gonorrhoea and pelvic inflammatory disease. The research team is developing methods to detect and report additional kinds of infections.
The article contains some interesting examples of how these programs can facilitate and improve reporting and public health.
But like all good things, what stops these programs from being used to data-mine or report for other purposes? I do not doubt the good intentions of those who developed or who currently use these programs. But any time you have vast troves of identifiable data and the potential for the government or others to sift through them, we need to think about preventing misuse.
Suppose law enforcement, in its desire to solve a heinous crime, goes to a judge and says, “Look, we have DNA evidence left at the scene of the crime that shows that the perpetrator had Huntington’s Disease. Nothing in our criminal databases matches what we have, so we’d like to modify the program to identify all patients in the Greater Boston area whose medical files indicate that they have Huntington’s Disease.
What would a judge do or say in that situation? What would you say if you were the judge?
Yes, I realize some readers may think I’m a tad paranoid about this, but after decades of watching government abuses of privacy such as abuses of the PATRIOT Act, abuses of NSLs, surveillance of lawful protesters, the government’s warrantless surveillance program, and other assorted tramplings of privacy and civil liberties, I don’t think I’m paranoid as much as informed, cynical, and proactive.