Trump Official Insists Allowing Patients To ‘Own’ Their Medical Data Will Do More Good Than Harm
STAT interviews Don Rucker about the new interoperability rule that would allow patients to download their medical data -- a situation critics say opens up major privacy issues. Other news on health information technology looks at recent data breaches affecting 1.4 million people.
Stat:
Trump Official Behind Health Data Rules Has A Message For Privacy Critics: Try Helping Patients, Instead Of Your Bottom Line
For the past year, Don Rucker has been in the middle of one of the biggest fights in American medicine — a pitched battle over a federal proposal to liberate patient health records currently housed in a byzantine network of outdated software systems. Last Monday, Rucker, the Trump administration’s national coordinator for health information technology, rendered a stirring ruling: He said patients should own their health data; they should be able to easily access it on their smartphones; and they should be able to share it with whomever they wish. In the wonky world of health technology policy, this is as close as one gets to a “drop the mic” moment. (Ross, 3/16)
Modern Healthcare:
February-Reported Breaches Affect 1.4 Million Patients
More than 1.4 million people had data exposed in healthcare breaches reported to the federal government last month. That's from a collective 35 breaches that providers, health plans and their business associates in February reported to HHS' Office for Civil Rights, the agency that maintains the government's database of healthcare breaches. In terms of patients affected, that's down 32.3% from February 2019, when organizations reported 32 breaches affecting 2.1 million people. (Cohen, 3/13)
