Folks (Especially Roy and Al),
I'm gonna throw this out here real quick and we can pick up on it after the weekend. It is my firm opinion that we who know that CCHIT, back-door portals into private practices' medical records systems, and the invasion of government and insurance carriers of patients' and provoders' privacy need to strike right now while the iron is hot and people will "get it".
With all this "passport-gate" going on right now, we need to loudly sound the public alarm about these less than benevolent forces intent to hijack everybody's medical information for their own good. It is clear that once everyone's PHI is on centralized servers, nobody is safe. Next time we will be talking about the breach of security that killed a front-runners candidacy because he or she had some mental health Dx in his distant past as a teen or something.
This is another one of mine and Vinny's (where the heck are you anyway, are you alright???) it is not a matter of left or right, it is a matter of right or wrong. Anyone should be able to see the importance and the frightening possiblities of such a thing. I'm about 46 years old and I can remember Sargent Shriver's mental health history being compromised as it killed what little hope he and McGovern had back in '72 (the year my Dodge Dart was born). Even employers have access to people's credit history these days and are allowed to use such stuff as criteria to choose who to hire. Will PHI make the list someday???
Al,
You need to help us get in front of the right people down there and help them make the connection between centralized databases of PHI and what is happening right now. This should hopefully put an end to our problems and concerns for quite some time I would hope....
Good Night and Good Luck (and happy holiday for the NJB),
Paul
