Despite the urgency of this issue, Congress so far has been unable to agree on privacy legislation. But pressures are mounting for action. The federal government will take a step toward addressing this later this year. If Congress has not acted on this issue by August 1999, the Secretary of Health and Human Services is required to issue her own regulations governing the privacy of electronic medical records. Electronic privacy is a very complex issue, far beyond the scope of this report.
Some observations are relevant, however.
Substantial work is being done to address the challenge, both by increasing the technical security of computer networks themselves and by adopting audit procedures to prevent possible abuses by institutions and individuals with authorized access to computerized medical records. That s where the issues in this report come into play. The agenda described here and the good efforts of the many people and institutions working to achieve it, could lay a foundation of trust on which the information age health care system could be built. If Americans have faith in the information they receive about health, if they believe their health plans are committed to quality care, if the best health services the nation can provide are available to everyone regardless of race or income, and if the health care system is embedded in caring communities, then the promising next stage of the information age can become a reality.