Not so anymore. These one on one, private interactions are a thing of the past, as dated as the famous Norman Rockwell paintings depicting the family physician.
Health care is now a system of integrated health care delivery networks and managed care providers.
Patient information may be shared with pharmacies, self-insured employers, life insurance companies, and medical information bureaus, all without the knowledge of the patient. One survey found that 35 percent of Fortune 500 companies look at people s medical records before making hiring and promotion decisions. As no comprehensive privacy legislation was enacted by Congress before the self-imposed deadline, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued final health privacy regulations in December of 2000. Small health plans will have an extra year to come into compliance. Transmitting health information electronically means transferring personally identifiable health information via computer based technology, which includes the Internet, an Intranet, or a private network system, as well as transferring information via magnetic tape or disk.