Noblin Alice M
Department of Health Professions, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816-2200, USA.
Health Care Manag (Frederick). 2007 Oct-Dec;26(4):331-40. doi: 10.1097/01.HCM.0000299251.06807.a8.
Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs) are forming in response to President George W. Bush's 2004 mandate that medical information be made available electronically to facilitate continuity of care. Privacy concerns are a deterrent to widespread acceptance of RHIOs. The Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 provides some guidelines for privacy protection. However, most states have stricter guidelines, causing difficulty when RHIOs form across these jurisdictions. This article compares several RHIOs including their privacy policies where available. In addition, studies were reviewed considering privacy concerns of people in the United States and elsewhere. Surveys reveal that Americans are concerned about the privacy of their personal health information and ultimately feel it is the role of the government to provide protection. The purpose of this article is to look at the privacy issues and recommend a policy that may help to resolve some of the concerns of both providers and patients. Policy research and action are needed to move the National Health Information Network toward reality. Efforts to provide consistency in privacy laws are a necessary early step to facilitate the construction and maintenance of RHIOs and the National Health Information Network.
区域卫生信息组织（RHIOs）的形成是为了响应乔治·W·布什总统2004年的指令，即医疗信息应以电子方式提供，以促进医疗服务的连续性。隐私问题阻碍了RHIOs的广泛接受。1996年的《健康保险流通与责任法案》提供了一些隐私保护指南。然而，大多数州有更严格的指南，这在跨这些司法管辖区组建RHIOs时造成了困难。本文比较了几个RHIOs，包括其现有的隐私政策。此外，还对考虑美国和其他地方人们隐私问题的研究进行了综述。调查显示，美国人担心其个人健康信息的隐私问题，最终认为政府有责任提供保护。本文的目的是审视隐私问题，并推荐一项可能有助于解决提供者和患者双方一些担忧的政策。需要进行政策研究和采取行动，以使国家卫生信息网络成为现实。努力使隐私法律保持一致是促进RHIOs和国家卫生信息网络的建设与维护的必要早期步骤。
