Are PHRs Unprotected?
April 19, 2007
In Modern Health Care, Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, states that PHRs are “not protected by any laws and will be held in databases owned by corporations not subject to laws or medical ethics that guarantee privacy.” She opposes the concept of promoting PHRs as is done by the AHIMA and American Medical Informatics Association. Their joint statement states that consumers do have rights, although it should be noted that HIPAA only covers providers and payors. There is a lack of any overarching policy and consumers are not always aware of how their records might be secured or used unless they read site agreements carefully.
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