Is someone snooping your health records? New rule will tell you who

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/31/6757204-is-someone-snooping-your-health-records-new-rule-will-tell-you-who

45 minutes ago

Ever wonder if someone at the doctor’s office or hospital has been snooping through your health care records? A new federal health care rule could tell you.

Health care patients will have a broad new tool to keep their personal information under wraps if a proposed Department of Health and Human Services rule is adopted. The update to federal health care privacy laws proposed on Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services would give patients the right to see the name of any person who accessed their electronic health records, and what he or she did with them. The so-called "access report" would be available from some health care providers as soon as Jan. 1, 2013. It would function much like a free credit report -- consumers would have the right to ask for one such report for free every year.

The change comes as scrutiny over hackers and data leaks is at an all-time high, following high-profile electronic attacks on Lockheed Martin, Sony and the security firm RSA.


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