Diana Manos writes in Healthcare IT News: Healthcare IT vendors and other stakeholders at a recent Capitol Hill briefing sought to dispel what they called “privacy myths” concerning electronic health records. “People are scaring lawmakers about data flying around the Internet,” said Justin Barnes, a board member of the Confidentiality Coalition and vice president of…
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From DNA of Family, a Tool to Make Arrests
The Washington Post continues in its focus on DNA and the legal system. Following up on yesterday’s story, Ellen Nakashima reports: He was a church-going father of two, and for more than 30 years Dennis Rader eluded police in the Wichita area, killing 10 people and signing taunting letters with a self-styled monogram: BTK, for…
Do Patients Have Access to Therapy or Personal Notes?
Donna Vanderpool, M.B.A., J.D., assistant vice president for risk management at PRMS Inc., has an article in the April 18 issue of Psychiatric News. Here’s part of the article: HIPAA’s Privacy Rule permits covered psychiatrists who choose to keep psychotherapy notes to deny patients access to those notes. The Privacy Rule definition of psychotherapy notes…
Is the Medical Establishment the Best Guardian of Your Medical Data?
David C. Kibbe, MD, MBA and Vince Kuraitis provide more food for thought on the e-CareManagement blog: Drs. Mandl and Kohane begin their recent article in NEJM with the statement that “large corporations are seeking an integral and transformative role in the management of health care information,†and then warn that this “will profoundly affect…
DNA Tests Offer Deeper Examination Of Accused
Rick Weiss has a fascinating piece in the Washington Post that describes current trends in using DNA in the courts and that provides a recap of the history of DNA use in the legal system: Twenty years after DNA fingerprints were first admitted by American courts as a way to link suspects to crime scenes,…
Court blocks broad subpoena of patient records
Amy Lynn Sorrel of American Medical News reports: Louisiana physicians who were getting roped into the state’s lawsuit against a pharmaceutical company won a recent victory in their effort to defend their patients’ privacy. But doctors’ involvement in the case may not be over just yet. The Louisiana attorney general is suing Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc.,…