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Physician blogs inform, but also raise patient privacy concerns

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, April 7, 2008

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Want to know more about popular pharmaceuticals, celebrity skin problems, brain disease, or surgeons' innermost thoughts? One of the approximately 120,000 healthcare blogs probably has this information and more, according to a March 13 National Public Radio (NPR) report.

Physician blogs can be an effective marketing tool, but some more closely resemble diaries in which physicians vent about difficult cases and reimbursement rates, and complain that it's a "bummer" when so many patients die, NPR said in its report.

Debra Peel, MD, a psychiatrist and founder of Patient Privacy Rights, told NPR that physician blogs present real privacy risks. "The problem with physicians blogging about patients is the danger that that person will be able to identify themselves, or that others that know them will be able to identify them," she says.

Peel expressed concern about adverse effects involving employment, health insurance, and other aspects of a patient's life if information about a case is traced back to a specific individual.

Physicians shouldn't use blogs to express their frustration or dissatisfaction, Peel told NPR. "If you are unhappy with the people that you're supposed to be serving and taking care of, you probably need therapy," she says. "You don't need to be venting your frustrations in a public manner like that. That's very inappropriate and unprofessional."

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