NEGATIVE — MEDICAL — MEDICAL IDENTIFIERS GOOD 251

WHAT MEDICAL IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM WOULD DO

Phil Porter, The Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 1999, SECTION: NEWS , Pg. 4B TITLE: MEDICAL ID SYSTEM DEBATED ISSUE COMES DOWN TO PRIVACY RIGHTS VS. HEALTH BENEFITS // acs-EE2001

Approval of a medical identification system would involve the creation of an electronic system through which medical professionals nationwide would exchange patient health information.

Right now, personal information commonly used to identify an individual on health forms -- name, birth date, gender and Social Security number -- is rarely recorded the same way by health-care professionals, said William Braithwaite, senior adviser for health information at the Department of Health and Human Services.

MEDICAL IDENTIFIER SYSTEM WOULD SUBSTANTIALLY IMPROVE MEDICAL CARE

Phil Porter, The Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 1999, SECTION: NEWS , Pg. 4B TITLE: MEDICAL ID SYSTEM DEBATED ISSUE COMES DOWN TO PRIVACY RIGHTS VS. HEALTH BENEFITS // acs-EE2001

Edward H. Shortliffe, professor of medicine and computer science at Stanford University, sees the issue differently.

"A single identifier would be of tremendous potential value to individuals, allowing access to medical records any place you have ever been in your life,'' he said.

Medicine in the 1990s has become fragmented, with multiple providers and specialists, Shortliffe said, and in today's mobile society, many people have difficulty recalling their medical history.

"There needs to be a balanced perspective,'' he said. "There is a need to protect the quality of care and the right to privacy, but also a need to protect society's right to ask important questions on public-health matters.''

MEDICAL IDENTIFICATION BRACELETS WOULD VASTLY IMPROVE MEDICAL CARE WITH A SMALL COST IN PRIVACY

Phil Porter, The Columbus Dispatch, July 12, 1999, SECTION: NEWS , Pg. 4B TITLE: MEDICAL ID SYSTEM DEBATED ISSUE COMES DOWN TO PRIVACY RIGHTS VS. HEALTH BENEFITS // acs-EE2001

What if every American had an identification number that could be used to track his or her medical history?

Such a number -- similar to a Social Security number -- and a corresponding system for storing and exchanging health information electronically would benefit physicians who seek to know more about patients.

Medical researchers would have greater access to millions of people's test results and treatments.

An emergency-room physician who needed to know more about a patient's medical history at 2 a.m. could quickly access that information.

The downside, though, is lack of privacy.

PLAN IS IN THE WORKS TO GIVE EVERYONE A UNIVERSAL PATIENT IDENTIFIER

CHARLES J. SYKES, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 14, 1999, SECTION: Crossroads Pg. 1 TITLE: PRIVATE MATTERS Who has access to your medical files? // acs-EE2001

The federal government continues to move ahead with a plan to assign each American a "universal patient identifier," which would provide a nationwide link of all of a patient's files. With a universal identifier, all of the information from all of the databanks -- both public and private -- can be merged into a global dossier that traces every patient contact, every illness and every drug, from birth until death.

A UNIVERSAL HEALTH IDENTIFIER COULD PROTECT MEDICAL INFORMATION DATA

Paul Starr, Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, "Health and the Right to Privacy," American Journal of Law & Medicine, 1999, 25 Am. J. L. and Med. 193, EE2001-JGM, p. 200

To protect against disclosure, most analysts agree that reform should encourage researchers and others to rely, wherever possible, on nonindividually identifiable health data. In this regard, the adoption of a universal health identifier could be a critical step, especially if combined with encryption that blinds researchers to the true number. Today, files on individuals contain much personal information in order to achieve reliable identification; it will be easier to anonymize data in research if there is a unique and reliable number associated with all records pertaining to a case. If there are unique numbers, researchers never need see names.

A UNIVERSAL MEDICAL IDENTIFIER WON’T LEAD US DOWN A SLIPPERY SLOPE TO TYRANNY

Paul Starr, Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, "Health and the Right to Privacy," American Journal of Law & Medicine, 1999, 25 Am. J. L. and Med. 193, EE2001-JGM, p. 200

Yet some privacy advocates have opposed the introduction of universal health identifiers on the grounds that this is a step down the slippery slope of totalitarianism. But if there were such a genuine totalitarian threat, it would make no difference whether there is a unique health identifier; thugs bent on tyranny will scarcely be deterred by the administrative inefficiency of our health care system.

MEDICAL IDENTIFIER WOULD GAIN SOCIAL MEDICAL BENEFITS

Leah Curtin and Roy Simpson; Health Management Technology, August, 1999; Pg. 32 TITLE: Privacy in the Information Age? // acs-VT2001

Most everyone involved in the debate over medical databases agrees that they have enormous potential to help society, and most everyone agrees that they could be -- in fact, already are being -- abused. A medical ID could simplify billing and make medical records easier to transport when you change jobs and insurers. It also would provide data for statistical analyses that the providers of the data (the patient) would appreciate -- like denial of services because a treatment doesn't meet a cost-benefit analysis.

IF THOSE WHO HANDLE MEDICAL IDENTIFIER INFORMATION ACT WITH INTEGRITY ALL WILL BENEFIT -- INCLUDING PRIVACY CONCERNS

Leah Curtin and Roy Simpson; Health Management Technology, August, 1999; Pg. 32 TITLE: Privacy in the Information Age? // acs-VT2001

The real bottom-line for privacy rests with the integrity of those who handle or have access to the databases. Laws may not be able to protect the medical record in at all times or even completely at any time . . . but if we can prevent the worst of the abuses, and provide a reasonable protection for most people most of the time, all of us can realize the very considerable benefits -- providers, researchers, payers, employers -- that a uniform medical database offers.