EHR guidelines raise privacy concerns

Washington -- A patient privacy coalition is not happy with recommendations released in July that outline how doctors and hospitals could use electronic health records in a way that qualifies for federal stimulus money. The group says key privacy regulations need to be enacted more quickly.

The recommendations on the "meaningful use" of electronic health records were developed by a working group within the Health IT Policy Committee and approved in July by David Blumenthal, MD, national health information technology coordinator. The guidelines are not official but instead serve as advice for the Dept. of Health and Human Services in drafting federal regulations.

If the proposed objectives are approved, physicians' EHR systems would need to meet certain standards by 2011, 2013 and 2015 to be eligible for federal EHR money through the economic stimulus package enacted in February.

But the Coalition for Patient Privacy, a network of state and national organizations and health IT corporations, said it is concerned with what it calls the policy committee's lack of attention to controlling sensitive health information. The coalition wants the requirements for some key privacy protections moved up from 2015 to 2011.

For example, a 2015 objective in the meaningful-use matrix calls on physicians to "protect sensitive health information to minimize reluctance of patient to seek care because of privacy concerns." Another 2015 objective states that patients must have access to EHR self-management tools.

"Patients need an effective seat at this table," said Deborah Peel, MD, a psychiatrist and chair of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, a watchdog group based in Austin, Texas, that is one of nine members of the coalition. "The consumers need to have the ability to decide when, where and with whom their information is shared. They also have to be able to trust the system up front; otherwise, [HHS officials] risk wasting billions in stimulus money."

Other members of the coalition include Consumer Action, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.