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by gqvijay 4156 days ago
My take on it is HIPAA is meant to protect your privacy which is great BUT we have to make sure it doesn't impede progress in mental health. I am no expert but there has to be incredible amount of information based on studying the data. This is especially true in mental health.

Personally, I am not a fan of a general statement like "don't collect any data". As a patient, I am totally ok if a system collects data ON me BUT never ABOUT me. In another words, the data should in no way be identifiable. That way, we continue to make progress while maintaining privacy.

1 comments

England has electronic records. They planned to implement an anonymised database for research - care.data (care dot data).

A previous version of that scheme, run under different rules, saw anonymous patient data being sold to insurance companies. (It's now a criminal offence to sell off the data.)

That stupid decision has led to delays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26253440

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26239532

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-26347026

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-25919399

etc etc.