Re: Confidentiality Policies in Dr's Off Site Office

[James Brady <jbrady@freenet.columbus.oh.us>]

  On Wed, 8 May 1996, Robert Gellman wrote:
  
  > On Wed, 8 May 1996, Dick Mills wrote:
  .snipped. 
  > 
  >   (DICK TYPING)
  > > I predict that within the next 20 years the USA will experience a colossal
  > > medical-records scandal, as the result of a single criminal act, resulting in
  > > the records of 100 million or more people being irretrievably broadcast to 
  > > the whole world on the Internet.
  
  >   ROBERT TYPING
  > We already have an ongoing scandal.  Paper medical records are routinely
  > bought, sold, and stolen.  It is just that no one has done an
  > investigation to bring up the details.  There was a study in Canada in
  > 1980 that documented an unbelieveable amount of trafficking in medical
  > records, and many of the culprits were American insurance and
  > investigative companies. 
  
  Could you please be a little more specific about investigative companies
  "trafficking in medical records?"  Does the Canadian study include
  legitimate providing of medical records from a provide to an insurer via
  an investigative company?  One could easily get the impression that the
  insurance companies and the investigative companies, according to the
  Canadian study, are illegally traficking in medical records.
  
  TIA
  
  James D Brady, Columbus, OH
  Jim types for Jim and no other person or entity.