Comments on: New privacy guidelines for e-health records announced

As President-elect Obama calls for widespread adoption of e-medical records, the Department of Health and Human Services is offering more privacy guidelines for them.

[FunkyMan3333]

Not a word in the document about using EMR information for medical research. The U.S. is falling far behind Europe and Canada in that field. EMR data can be centralized and anonymized to protect patient privacy, contributing hugely to the improvement of the health care system through medical and health services research. Where is the government on this topic??

[inachu1]

Using EMR would make it hard for black hat employers to make sure there is a reason to fire people.

[Renegade Knight]

If it were really considered personal health information, it wouldn't be on the web. It would be in my hands for my sole use and benefit. The entire reason it's online is for other 'interested' parties.

[BenjaminWright]

Maybe patients can bolster privacy by inserting legal terms of access (like an end-user license agreement) into the content of their electronic medical records. The terms could set binding rules for who may view data and when. The idea is not legal advice, just something to think about. --Ben http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2008/02/contracts-for-patient-privacy.html