Posted by Jerry Stuckle on 11/19/21 11:46

Bill Karwin wrote:
> veg_all@yahoo.com wrote:
>
>>> So - if you value your freedom, any personal information having to do
>>> with the
>>> medical field has to be guarded with even more care than credit card
>>> and social
>>> security numbers. The law is very strict and penalties severe.
>>
>>
>> I dont understand the logic behind this.
>
>
> Laws are designed often for political reasons, not for reasons of
> consistency with other laws.
>
> In any case, we don't need to agree with it, it's the law and it must be
> taken into account. If you're a programmer on a medical information
> system, you had better learn HIPAA and do what it takes to comply, or
> else the organization for whom you're designing code could suffer huge
> consequences.
>
> Regards,
> Bill K.

Bill,

Actually HIPAA wasn't designed for political reasons. It was designed because
people would lose their jobs if their employer found out they had a serious
disease. They could lose their insurance if the insurance found they were
genetically prone to certain diseases. There could be all kinds of consequences.

Medical information is supposed to be private between the doctor and the
patient. The patient can request its release to specific parties, such as
insurance companies, which obviously want to know what they're paying for.

With the advent of the internet, there are many more possibilities for
information to get out - either because someone was careless with the info, used
an unencrypted wireless connection, hacked a site, or whatever. HIPAA is
designed to protect that information from getting out, either via the internet
or otherwise.

--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

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