[Med-privacy] GAO report update

[peter marshall]

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HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PRIVACY PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES
  [SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Valerie Melvin, 
Linda Koontz]
  Although advances in information technology (IT) can improve the 
quality and other aspects of health care, the electronic storage and 
exchange of personal health information introduces risks to the privacy 
of that information. In January 2007, GAO reported on the status of 
efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure 
the privacy of personal health information exchanged within a 
nationwide health information network. GAO recommended that HHS define 
and implement an overall privacy approach for protecting that 
information. For this report, GAO was asked to provide an update on 
HHS's efforts to address the January 2007 recommendation. To do so, GAO 
analyzed relevant HHS documents that described the department's 
privacy-related health IT activities. GAO recommends that HHS include 
in its overall privacy approach a process for ensuring that key privacy 
principles and challenges are completely and adequately addressed. 
(GAO-08-1138)
http://benton.org/node/17008
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<fontfamily><param>Verdana</param><smaller>HEALTH INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY PRIVACY PRINCIPLES AND CHALLENGES

 [SOURCE: Government Accountability Office, AUTHOR: Valerie Melvin,
Linda Koontz]

 Although advances in information technology (IT) can improve the
quality and other aspects of health care, the electronic storage and
exchange of personal health information introduces risks to the
privacy of that information. In January 2007, GAO reported on the
status of efforts by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
to ensure the privacy of personal health information exchanged within
a nationwide health information network. GAO recommended that HHS
define and implement an overall privacy approach for protecting that
information. For this report, GAO was asked to provide an update on
HHS's efforts to address the January 2007 recommendation. To do so,
GAO analyzed relevant HHS documents that described the department's
privacy-related health IT activities. GAO recommends that HHS include
in its overall privacy approach a process for ensuring that key
privacy principles and challenges are completely and adequately
addressed. (GAO-08-1138)

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