HIT: Patient groups lobby for stronger EMR rules

The Patient Privacy Rights Foundation and the Electronic Privacy Information Center are lobbying Congress for stronger privacy laws to protect electronic medical records. The development comes at a time when consumer groups are increasingly suspicious of employers plans for their workers' healthcare data. The release of a secret Wal-Mart memo detailing the company's plans to cut back on health costs by changing its hiring focus to encourage healthier employees brought the issue to the forefront. Earlier in the month, IBM announced a plan to create an electronic health record for each of its employees. The issue, of course, is one which supporters of electronic health records have been painfully aware for a long time.

- see this article from Extreme Nano
- see the petition from patientprivacyrights.org

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