PLEASE READ AND SIGN OUR NEW PRIVACY NOTICE BEFORE WE CAN TREAT YOU FOR YOUR HEART ATTACK.

Until recently, the first thing a doctor’s office asked you for—before any treatment, of course—was your medical insurance. Now, required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996, updated in February, 2006, the first thing you are confronted with is the privacy thing; like every visit you make, even if the last one was yesterday. Mondaq.com has a good article on this by the law firm of Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner. In the past I have posted on the subject of doctor’s offices as one of the largest depositories of sensitive data in the country. Another is mortgage companies. And folks, they use that ancient method of storage called file cabinets. Everything you reveal to your doctor, including your Social Security number, date of birth, your alcohol consumption, etc., is in the file. Plus, of course, all your ailments and the medications you take. The doctor today promises to keep all this private within the parameters of required sharing such as insurance companies, hospitals, other physicians. Of course we hope that’s what they’ve been doing all along. My concern is the less than maximum security, but at least they can’t take a file cabinet out of the office to do work at home. They can’t, can they?