Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Although Often Overlooked, Small Breaches Of Medical Privacy Harm Many Patients
Millions of private medical records have been hacked at large insurance companies like Anthem. What appears to be causing more damage are smaller violations of medical privacy. (Kodjak, 12/10)
Even when small privacy violations have real consequences, the federal Office for Civil Rights rarely punishes health care providers for them. Instead, the office typically settles for pledges to fix any problems and issues reminders of what the privacy law requires. It doesn't even tell the public which health providers have reported small breaches — or how many. (Ornstein, 12/10)
With sexually transmitted diseases on the rise, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago think they might have a powerful new weapon to fight their spread: Google searches. The nation’s leading search engine has quietly begun giving researchers access to its data troves to develop analytical models for tracking infectious diseases in real time or close to it. UIC is one of at least four academic institutions that have received access so far, along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Jaklevic, 12/10)
