Health Information Management

Americans worried about healthcare privacy at work

HIPAA Weekly Advisor, November 28, 2005

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A recent survey finds that Americans are concerned about their privacy rights, especially at work.

Fifty-two percent of respondents said they were very or somewhat concerned that information on insurance claims could be used against them by an employer, up 44% from the 1999 study, according to the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) survey of 1,000 national consumers and 1,000 California consumers.

"We need to demonstrate through frequent communications that trustworthy systems with many safeguards are in place to ensure that their records are safe and can never be used in ways they haven't authorized," Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health, said in a press release.

The National Consumer Health Privacy Survey 2005 also found that

  • 67% are aware of federal laws that protect their health information's privacy
  • 24% know of specific incidents when the confidentiality of personal information was compromised
  • 58% felt their medical records were very or somewhat secure in an electronic format, compared to 66% who said they were in paper format

Click here to view the survey results.



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