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News of the Day ... In Perspective12/23/2006
Patients warned about insurer-controlled �personal� health records America�s leading insurers, American Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA), recently announced a plan to provide free personal health records (PHRs) to their 200 million enrollees. Patient Privacy Rights denounced it as a plan that would benefit insurers, not patients. The PHRs would be pre-populated with information based on insurance claims, stated Patient Privacy Rights, and then patients and providers would be encouraged to add information. Research has shown that 65% of Americans will not give sensitive information to insurance plans; 53% are concerned about health plans gaining access to their electronic medical records; and 59% do not trust their health insurers. In addition, 77% of Americans fear that data in their electronic medical records will be used for other purposes such as marketing, and 82% object to insurance companies gaining access to data without permission. From these so-called PHRs, insurers will gain a lucrative data base that they control completely, unconstrained by federal or state laws concerning its use. �By giving plan enrollees a PHR and asking them to fill in the blanks, we�re basically being asked to spy on ourselves for the financial benefit of the insurance industry,� stated founder and chairman Deborah Peel, M.D. Although electronic medical records are basically a good idea, Patient Privacy Rights strongly advises Americans not to participate in any PHR data bases unless Congress passes a law saying that patients own their data and have the right to control access to it (Press Release 12/21/06). Additional information:
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