In May, I released a Special Report on Medical Record Confidentiality. The report was prompted by a variety of complaints received by my office, including complaints from individuals who had recently been diagnosed with a specific medical condition and shortly thereafter received direct mail solicitations form drug companies to buy medications for treatment of the condition. The situation raised concerns that the confidentiality of their medical records had been breached in the sale of mailing lists. We also received complaints about indiscriminate distribution of medical information within an HMO care group, as when a physical therapist who is assigned to treat an individual for a trick elbow is given access to the patient's entire medical record. We also need to update current law to better protect medical record privacy.
Medical information is different from any other kind of information that a person can disclose.
In order to obtain complete and appropriate treatment, people must feel free to confide their most intimate, embarrassing, shameful or tragic concerns to their doctors without fear of disclosure. A person's private medical record is not an open book. These recommendations will help keep it that way.