Managed Care - July 2008 - (Page 8) LEGISLATION & REGULATION Regulation is inevitable, says Carlton Doty, a Forrester Research analyst. Just don’t look for this particular trend to grab the public’s attention anytime soon, says Doty. “It is likely to be at least five years before we see widespread adoption.” Doty signed up for a Google Health account and found it “completely useless” because “It didn’t connect to my insurer. It didn’t connect to my doctor. There are a lot of barriers, but the main one is that consumers just don’t perceive the value of these things right now.” Privacy advocates say that anyone who does appreciate the value is still likely to be put off by the prospect of opening his health records to prying eyes. “My sense is that privacy and security are Managed Care Special Supplement and Webcast CANCER as a Chronic Disease You may have received this special supplement with this issue or you may view it online at managedcaremag.com. In August, you may participate in the webcast by going to http://www.ce-university.org, viewing “All Courses,” and selecting “Hematologic Cancer Webcast.” This activity is sponsored by This activity is supported by an educational grant from HEMATOLOGIC huge issues for individual patients, so there is a big, big legitimacy barrier,” says Lee Tien, senior staff lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A breach notification requirement is a good first step toward ensuring privacy and security, says Tien. And good encryption technology certainly can go part of the distance to reassuring a wary public. But when providers are routinely being exposed for improperly accessing even HIPAA-related data, there is a deep level of skepticism that laws and regulations will do everything that they are intended to do. “You just can’t tell whether something is working properly,” says Tien. “We are promised lots of things, but if they leave doors open, how would you know?” There is another big issue that also has to be sorted out, Doty says. Google, like Microsoft, is offering this for free, but its big money-maker is advertising. There is concern that the online giant may start matching health care advertisers with patients based on their online profile. “This is a new sort of potential revenue stream,” he adds, with pharmaceutical companies, device makers and others eager to get their products in front of people who are most likely to be interested. If you are making a new diabetes drug, for example, identifying diabetics based on their health record would be an advertiser’s dream come true. “I would expect we would see some more aggressive movement to regulation,” says Doty. “It’s inevitable.” MC Reprints Available Major articles are reviewed by appropriate members of MANAGED CARE’s editorial advisory board and/or other qualified experts. Reprints of these articles may be a useful tool for your company. To obtain information concerning the purchase of professionally printed reprints, please contact: Lisa Gardineer Phone: 267-685-2789 E-mail: lgardineer@medimedia.com 8 MANAGED CARE / JULY 2008 http://managedcaremag.com http://www.ce-university.org
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