Medical privacy, access to records often at odds  In a world of
paper records, consumers have long been vulnerable to someone’s
snooping around an unattended file drawer. Such thefts were rare
but could be pulled off without detection.  In an electronic
world, someone pulling a similar trick likely would get caught.
Systems log who gains access to a record.  But such thefts could
happen more easily on a grand scale. Instead of walking away
with a backpack of records, it becomes possible to take off with
virtual truckloads. Doctors and hospitals and the vendors that
create the systems that store electronic medical records have
been working on preventing breaches and protecting privacy.
Meanwhile, the same safeguards put in place to keep the world
from learning you have a history of mental illness or are at a
high risk for uterine cancer might make it harder to deliver
critical information about your health to an emergency room
physician.  read more at:  Veröffentlicht unter Around the Globe