The Health IT Now Coalition is urging Congress to take action on health IT legislation this year, Modern Healthcare reports. Former Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), co-chair of the coalition, warned that a lack of legislative action could stall the health care industry’s progress and shift the benefits of health IT away from the patient. More…
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Woman is extradited in St. Petersburg nursing home ID theft case
Jackie Alexander of the St. Petersburg Times reports: A woman accused of using the identities of patients at a St. Petersburg nursing home to fund a $100,000 shopping spree was extradited from Michigan on Thursday. Rhonda Felicia Gills, 40, of Comanche Avenue in Tampa faces one count of organized fraud and 16 counts of criminal…
HIT: What Congress hasn't adequately addressed (opinion)
Yesterday’s Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report reported: Lawmakers, patient-privacy and health care advocates, and information technology experts on Tuesday “debated … how Congress can strike a balance between accelerating the adoption of a nationwide system of electronic medical records while protecting patient privacy,” CongressDaily reports (Noyes, CongressDaily, 6/4). The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on…
California Senate Passes Bill Giving Marketers Access to Rx Information
The California Senate passed a bill that would allow pharmacies to sell patient information to third-party marketers, including drug companies. It was sent to the California Assembly for consideration. The bill would allow a pharmacy to send mail to a patient without the patient’s authorization on condition that the letter pertain only to the prescribed…
HHS considers adding genetic information to EHRs
Nancy Ferris of Government Health IT reports: The American Health Information Community is recommending that the federal government prepare for the day when people will choose to electronically store their genetic makeup so that doctors can match medical treatments to their genes. Scientists are beginning to make connections between patients’ genetic characteristics and responses to…
ACLU Urges Congress to Maximize Medical Privacy of Electronic Health Records
The American Civil Liberties Union urges the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health at today’s hearing to develop privacy and security standards at the same time the health care industry converts from paper to electronic patient records. The ACLU warns that without real patient controls and compensation for misused data, American medical records are…