VA withholds cancer patient data because of privacy concerns
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, October 22, 2007
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Because of privacy concerns, the Veterans Affairs Department (VA) is withholding cancer patient data from state registries unless states sign on to a VA-issued directive, according to an October 10 article in the New York Times.
The directive has been in place since August 22, and many states, including California, which has more veterans than any other state, find the conditions in the directive impossible to meet.
Typically, patient data reported to state registries includes the name, address, age, race, and medical history of patients. This information was "used to investigate survival and other issues, like unusual cancer clusters and whether patients' experiences are different depending on their racial or economic group," according to the New York Times.
VA has stumped cancer researchers with their requirements, and meanwhile, VA patient data will be missing from, and affecting the results of cancer reports, according to the article.
Click here for more information.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to HIPAA Weekly Advisor!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- HIPAA Q&A: Level of encryption needed for email
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Q/A. One injection code or two?
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Identify modifiable risk factors to prevent patient falls
- Searched