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HIPAA Disadvantages

The 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act set a national standard for electronic transfers of health data. In 2003, the Privacy Rule clarified its protections for the security of personal information. Among other benefits, HIPAA guarantees you a copy of your own medical records; notice of how they are used by providers; and disclosure of who has recently accessed your records. But there are disadvantages to the HIPAA mechanisms. These include accessibility of your records to certain businesses and public officials; availability of old information; and limited requirements for your consent to release information about you.

  1. Accessibility of Records

    • Your confidential medical records may be released by health providers to a wide range of people with whom they interact or do business. For example, health information you believe to be private could be shared with lawyers, accountants, data processors or billing consultants who work for your doctors. Under certain circumstances, government officials may also have relatively unfettered access to your medical information. These officials could include public health authorities, welfare agencies and law enforcement, among others.

    Availability of Old Information

    • There is no extra protection for records of mental or physical illnesses you may have suffered, or treatments you may have undergone many years ago. Under any circumstances where HIPAA allows disclosure and/or sharing of current information, it also permits disclosure and/or sharing of the same types of information from your past.

    Requirements for Authorization or Consent

    • In many situations, HIPAA prevents your personal health data from being released without your express permission. However, your records can be released without authorization or consent as long as the information is to be used for treatment, payment, or in the operations of a health care provider. The need for this mechanism is clear in the case of medical emergencies. But other commercial entities may also be able to obtain your data without your permission. These could include collection agencies, pharmaceutical companies, or certain categories of health care marketers.

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