Advanced Computing in the Age of AI | Thursday, March 28, 2024

HIPAA Raises Healthcare Silo 

Despite the potential for improving patient care, a number of healthcare companies have been slow to go digital. Although some medical organizations have pointed to the cost of implementation and the uncertain return on investment as reasons to stay away, one study now suggests that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is keeping healthcare providers from diving in.

The study, which was released earlier this month by the Bipartisan Policy Center, says that HIPAA is “often misunderstood, misapplied and over-applied in ways that may inhibit information sharing unnecessary.” It continued to explain that online information, including social media data, could improve healthcare but is currently inaccessible to healthcare providers.

For some the prospect of healthcare providers peeking into non-medical data seems a bit strange, if not cause for concern. But as the report explains, health is made up of much more than the delivery of medical care. “The remaining 85 to 90 percent of health is determined by other factors, which include healthy behaviors, genetics, and the socioeconomic and physical environment (e.g., access to education and job opportunities, housing, public safety, availability of places to exercise, healthy food choices, and other environmental factors).”

“Despite the significant growth of electronic health information, for the most part, data continues to reside in silos—inaccessible for purposes of improving health as well as the quality, cost and patient experience of care,” the report says.

The report was developed at a meeting of lawmakers and medical professionals in a June 2013 meeting.

In addition, some invaluable data such as human genomes are difficult to anonymize by HIPAA standards. Although some genomes are available for study thanks to patients who have opted in, the study found that the opt-in system discourages people from participating, leading to less data that can be used for healthcare research.

“Seeking consent from patients to use their data for clinical trials or observational research can help mitigate concerns about privacy, but there is evidence that using ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’ patient data results in bias,” the study says.

To help in overcoming these issues and garner confidence in a system built on personal medical data, the Bipartisan Policy Center is recommending that additional standards be put in place with regard to best practices for data collection.

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