National News.....7/6

The likening to the Scopes Monkey trial in Trusted MD was kind of interesting, always liked the play, Inherit the Wind...just not the ending.

"Now about the HIPAA and breach of contract claims:

These of course could be more serious - if they were real. As far as HIPAA goes I have not seen what the real breach of patient confidentiality is here. HIPAA is always bandied around as an excuse for just about anything, but only a handful of cases (really flagrant ones) went anywhere. Regarding business confidentiality, maybe there is a legal case here, but leaks occur in every large organization every day and as Hewlett-Packard boardroom saga has shown trying to fight them too hard could really boomerang back at you. "

Healthcare providers over zealous in HIPAA interpretation. A problem we seem to have. It's a bit paranoid, but no one wants the fines, so says the New York Times:

"Experts say many providers do not understand the law, have not trained their staff members to apply it judiciously, or are fearful of the threat of fines and jail terms — although no penalty has been levied in four years. "

In a related article in the Times, Susan McAndrew, deputy director for health information privacy in the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services, was interviewed on the subject of sharing information under the Hipaa law.

And, of course, the Computerworld article that seems to have frozen their server (a temporary thing.) A comment:

"HIPAA Horsepucky
Submitted by Not a Friend of Bill
& Hill on July 5, 2007 - 13:23.
reply
report this comment
Rated: 10
They are hiding behind the skirts of HIPAA as many health care idiots do. The sad thing is the judge didn't appear to understand, and worse didn't get anyone to help him understand what HIPAA exactly means."

I'd like to thank the News for breaking the story, the count was over 5000 hits in the two days following.