NEGATIVE — MEDICAL — DISADVANTAGES — GENERAL 252

OPEN INFORMATION SYSTEM IMPROVES MEDICAL AND HEALTH CARE

WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION OF INFORMATION HAS HUGE PUBLIC HEALTH BENEFITS

Kasper Zeuthen, The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo) September 7, 1999, SECTION: Pg. 7 TITLE: Reportage Nippon / Health information moves too freely in United States // acs-EE2001

But Lawrence Gostin, a professor of law at Georgetown University, said that restricting access to patient information comes at a price.

"The widespread collection of health information has enormous benefits for the public," he said. "Privacy is an extremely important topic, but I think that the public needs to understand that when you protect privacy too much, you thwart many of the important public services that data can provide."

One of those important public services is research. For instance, researchers with access to a health database can scan the information to keep track of an epidemic or use it to identify factors that increase the risk of developing cancer. Gathering data may also help keep track of how hospitals perform.

GREATER MEDICAL INFORMATION SHARING CAN LEAD TO BENEFICIAL HEALTH RESULTS

MARK SABLEMAN St. Louis Post-Dispatch March 12, 1999, SECTION: EDITORIAL, Pg. B7, TITLE: CAN WE KEEP NEW TECHNOLOGY AND CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS IN BALANCE? Web // acs-EE2001

Will patients in our health-care system shun benefits that can occur through greater sharing of information, such as expert second opinions, direct patient and physician access to test data, and identification of epidemiological trends?

PATIENT INFORMATION CAN LEAD TO BETTER FUTURE HEALTH CARE

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

But an unusual anti-privacy coalition, including both labor and business, argued that this sort of information was very much the state's business. One prominent business advocate insisted that reports about patient visits to their doctors would help consumers "make better decisions about health care purchases."

MEDICAL DISCLOSURE HELPS RESEARCH, CARE, AND CONTROL OF MEDICAL COSTS

ALISSA J. RUBIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER, Los Angeles Times June 20, 1999, SECTION: Part A; Page 8; TITLE: CONTINUED ACCESS TO PRIVATE MEDICAL DATA RAISES CONCERNS// acs-VT2001

Insurance companies want information that will help them determine which treatments work, reduce spending on those that do not and identify doctors with unusually high costs.

Employers generally support the same goals, with an emphasis on cost control. Research institutions have also joined the pro-disclosure forces, concerned that records must be kept open to spur medical innovation.

THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL SCIENCE DEPENDS ON KEEPING AS MUCH INFORMATION AS POSSIBLE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

ALISSA J. RUBIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER, Los Angeles Times June 20, 1999, SECTION: Part A; Page 8; TITLE: CONTINUED ACCESS TO PRIVATE MEDICAL DATA RAISES CONCERNS// acs-VT2001

Arguing that the future of medical science hinges on keeping as much health care information as possible in the public domain was far more attractive to senators than maintaining that managed care and insurance company profits depend on access to information.

"The health plans and drug companies cloaked a lot of their arguments in terms of whether research can go forward . . . ," said Janlori Goldman, director of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University Medical Center. "That was very effective."

DISCLOSING DATA IMPROVES MEDICAL CARE

NEIL D. ROSENBERG, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 7, 1999, SECTION: News Pg. 1 TITLE: Lawmakers, groups fight over patient data legislation // acs-VT2001

Disclosing data to state violates privacy, some argue; others say it could help analyze medical costs, procedures.

For example, if one hospital performs Caesarean sections -- which are riskier and more expensive than vaginal deliveries -- at rates higher than the state average, such groups would investigate why.

"It allows us to ask questions," said David B. Slautterback, a local AARP representative. He said his group would be one that undoubtedly would seek to get the outpatient data.

THERE MUST BE A BALANCE BETWEEN MEDICAL PRIVACY AND THE NEED FOR MEDICAL INFORMATION

JANE E. ALLEN, Los Angeles Times, February 8, 1999, SECTION: Health; Part S; Page 1; TITLE: A NEW PUSH IS ON FOR PATIENTS' PRIVACY LAW// acs-EE2001

They must somehow balance competing interests: protecting individual privacy and ensuring access to those who need the information, such as health plans trying to assure standards of care. AIDS advocates find themselves straddling two sides of the debate. They want to protect the privacy of AIDS patients and, at the same time, have access to information about development and testing of new and emerging treatments, said Craig Thompson of AIDS Project Los Angeles.