Survey of American Medical Privacy Concerns

Are American’s concerned that the widespread push for implementation of electronic medical records will affect the privacy of their medical history? Insurance companies and the government often tout claims that patients welcome the convenience of EHRs but brush aside questions about privacy.

 In this interview with Michael Ostrolenk, Deborah Peel, MD of www.PatientPrivacyRights.org discusses a recent Zogby poll that queried 2,000 patients about their attitudes about how their personal information is handled. The results suggest that insurance companies, bureaucrats, and legislators need to reexamine their assumptions and take a more serious approach to protecting patient privacy.

As well as discussing the survey, Dr. Peel also debunks other common EHR myths including “deidentified” medical data mining and the “cost savings” of EHR implementation.