In a post on open enrollment, one of my favorite finance sites, LearnVest, recommended something I'd never heard of--outsourcing your medical paperwork to a private company.
Sign me up, I thought--who wouldn't want a personal assistant lining up appointments and dealing with issues like misprocessed claims? If the service really worked, perhaps I could pocket thousands in negotiated claims and reimbursements.
On second thought, maybe that's a bad idea. OK, a very bad idea, says Pam Dixon, Executive Director at the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit research group.
"Your medical records are some of the best data money can buy," she says, "and while these companies may have the best intentions in the world, consumers really need to understand the structural risks that are built in because of flaws in the law. If these companies wanted to be covered by the Health Information and Privacy Act (HIPPA), they couldn't be because they haven't met the definitions."
If you're wondering what HIPPA has to do with it, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services offers a primer: The privacy act ensures your health information remains protected by the law and secure, whether it's electronic, written, or oral. HIPPA also sets rules and limits on who can see and use your data.
So if you're looking to outsource your life--and medical records in particular--depending on the company you deal with, you could be setting yourself up for some serious legal and identity theft nightmares. As Dixon and Bob Gellman, a privacy and information policy consultant, explain, losing rights to your data is only the beginning:
Medical identity theft is rampant, and can haunt you for years to come. From charging for services and visits that never occurred to altering your "medical identity" to reflect illnesses you don't have, this type of theft also makes it difficult for doctors to properly diagnose you, or for you to obtain health or life insurance in the future, notes World Privacy Forum. Much like having your social security number, the thief can use your health insurance id to obtain medical services and goods--that you'll have to pay for.
Also disconcerting is the risk of having your personal information wind up in the hands of marketers, says Gellman, who reviewed the privacy policies of two of the sites LearnVest cited, Simplee, which hosts medical info like HSAs and FSAs in one place, and MedClaims Liason, a full-service outsourcing company.
"As far as I can see, selling patient information directly or indirectly is the only way that [non-HIPPA covered companies] make money," he says. "Both privacy policies bury the fact that they give information to marketers. A casual reader will not notice it."
The end result could be having your personal information "end up irretrievably in the hands of spammers, junk mailers, and profilers."
And the third risk, Dixon says, is losing your physician-to-patient privileges, especially if something goes awry or you happen to fess up something a little too revealing to your doctor and the wrong person hears it then broadcasts it in the wrong place, like, say, a courtroom or brochure.
"These companies might be really trying to do the right thing," Dixon says, "but we really need changes in the law to improve this whole new area that we're starting to see in the digital area outside of HIPPA."
Until that occurs, here are three things you can do to safeguard your health data from the risks of using digital helpers:
Read the fine print. Statements like "compliant with HIPPA" or "HIPPA-compliant" are meaningless, says Dixon, and should not be taken to mean the company will comply with HIPPA. Also watch for phrases like "we may share your data with third parties."
Look out for shady seals. These don't guarantee privacy protection, says Gellman, and the company may have paid for it "in order to gloss over the deficiencies in the privacy policies." Some for-profit seals have come under scrutiny for poor oversight of their holders.
Get a copy of your medical records. If you do decide to outsource your life, if anything happens, this is the first place to go to verify the facts. Visit the American Health Management Association for more information on how to access your copy.
View the original article here
This post was made using the
Auto Blogging Software from
WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
