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FDA-approved implantable chip raises privacy concerns

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, October 18, 2004

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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Wednesday approved an implantable chip that could provide easy, immediate access to patient medical records, reported the New York Times. Healthcare professionals would use handheld scanners to read a number on the chip. When plugged into a computer, the number would link to a secure database containing patient-approved healthcare information.

The VeriChip is inserted in the upper arm in a painless, quick procedure, according to Applied Digital Solutions, which manufactures the device. The chip is approximately the size of a grain of rice and invisible to the naked eye once implanted.

Privacy advocates have voiced concerns about the implications of such a tool. Some worry that the speed of the transfer will make it difficult to keep the information secure. Others worry that you cannot remove the chip once it's implanted.

"The fact that we're engaged in such a deep, fundamental privacy debate really does complicate the prospect for this kind of technology," Clyde Wayne Crews, director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the Times. "We haven't even sorted out the appropriateness of a [radio frequency identification] tag that goes on a pallet of tomatoes much less one that can go under a person's skin."

Go to Applied Digital Solution's Web site for more information.

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