[Med-privacy] iHealthBeat Rounds Up Coverage On RFID Privacy Concerns

[pmarshall]

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iHealthBeat Rounds Up Coverage On RFID Privacy Concerns

October 20, 2004

The FDA last week approved the use of the VeriChip 
<http://www.4verichip.com/>, a radio frequency microchip planted under 
the skin that stores patients' medical information. The Applied Digital 
Solutions <http://www.adsx.com/content/index.htm> chip, about the size 
of a grain of rice, contains a code that physicians can scan to retrieve 
information, such as patients' allergies and prior treatments 
(iHealthBeat 
<http://ihealthbeat.org/index.cfm?Action=dspItem&itemID=106352>, 10/14).

Several publications recently addressed the privacy concerns surrounding 
RFID technology. Summaries of the articles appear below:

# eWeek: The RFID chip from Applied Digital Solutions has "kicked up a 
media furor over potential privacy concerns," eWeek 
<http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1677455,00.asp> reports. Because 
the chip contains identification numbers that provide access to medical 
records, the number could potentially let anyone access health records, 
eWeek reports. A unique identifier, which is not currently part of the 
national electronic medical record plan, could be used to obtain a 
patient's complete and correct medical information, according to the 
article.

"There's more controversy than there needs to be," said Mark Leavitt, 
medical director at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems 
Society <http://www.himss.org/ASP/index.asp>. "It's just a higher-tech 
version of the medical ID bracelet." There also is concern among 
analysts that the chip is not very useful and "may simply serve to 
further muddy the health IT debate without offering much of a 
contribution," according to eWeek (Lawrence, eWeek, 10/15).

In an eWeek <http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1677457,00.asp> 
opinion piece, contributing editor and emergency medical technician 
David Coursey writes that RFID technology could primarily benefit 
patients in some cases by tagging medical devices and surgical 
instruments and "only secondarily" by providing patient identification. 
RFID chips could help identify Alzheimers patients or those with chronic 
conditions by providing an ID number and a primary diagnosis to aid 
emergency workers, Coursey writes. Although there are many civil 
liberties issues involved with such tags, in each case either the 
patient or legal guardian would decide whether to implant the RFID tag. 
"Medical RFID is only for the patients who need it," Coursey writes. 
"But like so many other medical technologies, it can save lives when 
used properly" (Coursey, eWeek, 10/15).

# InformationWeek: While the "upside" of RFID technology is "immediately 
apparent to those involved in health care," privacy concerns remain, 
according to InformationWeek 
<http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=50500264>. 
"[T]he general public already is skittish about the privacy questions 
around RFID, and just the mention of RFID implants gives most people the 
heebie-jeebies," according to InformationWeek (Soat, InformationWeek, 
10/18).

# BBC News Online Magazine: RFID technology is sparking privacy concerns 
with the technology "moving from geeky future-gazing to a mainstream 
population," BBC News Online Magazine 
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3742684.stm> reports. The 
British Medical Association 
<http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/__Home_Public> has said that it 
would not raise an ethical objection to implanted RFID chips "as long as 
it was proven to be safe and there was no coercion," BBC News Online 
Magazine reports (Coughlan, BBC News Online Magazine, 10/15).


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