It's inevitable that absolutely all of your health records will be available online for you, your doctor, and for potentially lots more people. There are a slew of companies now like Google, Microsoft, Aetna, and WellPoint who are working to provide ways to help you (the consumer) digitally manage your health records. They are touting it as a "consumer empowerment tool." Sounds all fancy and exciting, no?
But, and this is a trunk full of loads of unknown junk, the privacy protection surrounding your health records is not all cut and dry and simple. You may think that just because a record is "medical" or "health" related it is automatically protected with privacy policies. Oh no!
You may have heard of HIPPA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which will provide privacy and security protection for your health records, but this protection is only covered for records covered by protected entities like health-care providers, health insurers, health-care clearing houses,
such as billing services, and business associates, such as companies
that administer health plans.
Tech companies like Google and Microsoft are not HIPPA covered because they are only providing the digital means to manage your records. They are a technology service not a health service. They can have in their privacy policies clauses that are similar to the HIPPA laws but they can change them at any moment because a company can change their policies whenever they want to.
There is an interesting report put out by The World Privacy Forum that illustrates in more detail how not all "Personal Health Records" companies (PHRs as they call it) are HIPPA protected. It is great food for thought. There are lots of things that I never would have thought of like linkage between your different doctors or health stays like rehab. If you are not careful or aware of the privileges you allow, your dentist can see all your rehab records, your GYN can see that you were treated with anti-depressants and see your psychiatrists records, and stuff like that.You may not want all your health professionals knowing EVERYTHING about you.
You as a consumer need to educate yourself about your health records online and what it means. The idea of having all your health records online sounds like it would make life easier, faster, and more organized. Because many people are not tech savvy, or privacy protection savvy, and the laws governing health records online are all in their infancy, there is also so much room for doubt, error, and confusion. So, time to weigh-in...
Your Two Cents: Does the idea of your health records online with greater accessibility possibilities make you excited or cause you concern because you are not sure really what is involved with privacy protection?
Ally wanted to drop some pounds because of the "scrutiny" a teen can face starting a new year as a sophomore in high school, as well as a desire for looking good for the TV show. When I heard that, red flags went up for me because there are other ways a teenager can drop weight that don't involve liquid diets. Ally ended up shedding 11 pounds in that one week, which is an enormous amount of weight in a short period of time. Most of it was most likely water weight and results from colonics. That's another thing, should teens be doing colonics?
Doing detoxes are really a healthy thing to do for your body to help rid you of toxins, and they better serve you if your intention is for detoxification versus weight loss. My question though is the wiseness of having teenagers do a detox process because their young bodies are still growing, and mentally they may not fully understand the difference between detoxing and dieting. As well, many other teenage girls are going to see this on TV and want to do the same thing, drop 11 pounds in one week. This is a bit of a controversial subject, but time for you to weigh-in...
Your Two Cents: Are health detoxes where liquid only diets are involved a wise or beneficial choice for teenagers?
Posted by Stephanie Quilao on Mar 20, 2008 in Discussions, Skinny commentary & news | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBack (0)
Tags: 21 Pounds in 21 Days, ally shapiro, bravo, detox, Jill Zarin, Martha's Vineyard Diet Detox, The Real Housewives of New York
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