Privacy in Practice: Professions, Laws, Technologies, and the Work of Health Care Delivery

• In Event: 464 - Regular Session. Law and Society II - Law, Expertise and the Interplay of Professions

Abstract

The demand for more and better “information” in the delivery of health care has been driven not only by new regulation, such as the 2009 HITECH ACT promoting electronic health records (EHRs), but also by the promise of information technologies (IT) to deliver better care. Though the significant push for EHRs has been relatively recent, US government regulation has been focused on electronic health information for nearly two decades since the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) legislation that included, among other provisions, an “administrative simplification” addressing the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI). Generally, most patients assume confidentiality in health care. Surveys of attitudes toward EHRs, however, reveal some trepidation regarding the privacy and security of personal health information. These fears stem at least in part from the fact that EHR systems introduce privacy risks that are outside a provider’s direct control.In this study, we explore how different health care providers think about and produce privacy in the practice of medical care. We aimed to capture the diverse experiences of key groups of providers: doctors, nurses and administrators, to understand three questions about information privacy. First, why do health care providers say they protect patient privacy in health care? Second, how do they “do privacy,” i.e., what actions do they (not) take to ensure privacy while delivering health care? Third, how do recent changes – both the use of information technology (IT) and legal requirements – affect how they think about and “practice” privacy?

Authors

• Denise L. Anthony, Dartmouth College

• Timothy Patrick Stablein, Dartmouth College