[ale] Privacy!

[Chuck Balog]

The flip side of this is that they take your ID to be sure that it's you.
Identity theft can take many forms. Here's an old KHN article that's
relevant: http://khn.org/news/medical-id/

However, having worked for HHS, a hospital, and an insurance company, I can
tell you that only a few pieces of the information that they ask for is for
claims. Many insurance companies require an SSN for a claim to be
electronically processed along with the plan details, etc. The other info
they ask for like your phone numbers, where you work, etc. is meant for
collections. I will tell you that I've never known a medical office to run
a credit check on a patient. I have seen them refuse to process a claim and
slide the paper form over to anyone refusing to provide SSN and demand
payment in full.

I can tell you that just about every EMR system that's consumed as a
service (most are these days) has to have at least an annual audit (but
commonly quarterly) to comply with the HIPAA Security Rule. Details here:
http://www.nist.gov/healthcare/security/hipaasecurity.cfm I'm not saying
that makes it safe, (because I've had some WTF moments in audits) but
someone is watching and following up.

Hope the info is valuable.

On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 4:17 PM leam hall <leamhall at gmail.com> wrote:

> While I agree with your concern, if you were born in the US, have a credit
> card, see a doctor, or shop with a credit card, pretty much all of your
> information is for sale world-wide. The illusion of security is voided by
> the reality of security costs and the public still shopping at Target.
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 24, 2016 at 3:57 PM, Jerald Sheets <questy at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Since many of you are privacy conscious, I’m curious as to how you handle
>> the increasing requirements of medical offices to scan and store your
>> drivers license to receive care.
>>
>> I don’t mind proving who I am, but we just got dropped by a pediatrician
>> for refusing to allow them to scan and store our driver’s license.  It was
>> a good pediatrician, too!
>>
>> Any anecdotes, links to the actual statutes, etc.?
>>
>>
>> —jms
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Mind on a Mission <http://leamhall.blogspot.com/>
> _______________________________________________
> Ale mailing list
> Ale at ale.org
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at
> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ale.org/pipermail/ale/attachments/20160824/15211c1b/attachment.html>