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3 Things Your Doctor Doesn’t Need to Know
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A provision of the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) offers health-care providers a maximum incentive of $63,750 for implementing electronic health records (EHRs) into their operations. A 2008 survey in the New England Journal of Medicine found that less than 17 percent of health-care professionals utilized electronic records in any form. But by 2013, two years after Obamacare was enacted, 78 percent of doctors and hospitals used some form of EHRs, according to a study published in the journal, Health Affairs.
Though electronic records streamline processes and, theoretically, make the patient-doctor relationship stronger and more effective, they come with inherent risks. Breached medical records have become commonplace since 2010. Each instance has taught Americans yet another lesson as to what they should and should not share with their primary-care physicians.
Social Security Number
There are several things you can do on your own to protect personal information. Shredding documents, not leaving outgoing mail in your box, and recognizing phishing scams will maximize data security. Information should also only be given out on a need-to-know basis.
Dr. Orly Avitzur told Consumer Reports that there is absolutely no procedural reason to give health-care providers your Social Security number (SSN). There’s also no legal obligation to do so. Health professionals may ask you for this information on various forms, but simply leave those spaces blank. The only reason doctors want it is for potential collections and skip tracing if the bill fails to be paid.
If a doctor persists, simply tell them you’ve seen all those Lifelock TV commercials and are concerned about identity theft. You can offer them the last four digits as an alternative, or find another provider altogether.
Bad (Embarrassing) Habits
The Sony email hack late last year made international headlines as it delayed the release of the film “The Interview.” The part that didn’t get much coverage was that medical records of Sony employees were also stolen and disseminated online.
The information leaked included spousal abuse treatments, kidney failure and liver cirrhosis due to alcohol abuse, and even records about said employees’ children’s treatments. Deborah Peel, of the nonprofit Patient Privacy Rights, told Bloomberg that the leak will haunt all individuals involved forever and is by far the worst aspect of the entire Sony hack saga.
The days of telling your primary care physician everything are over. Granted there wouldn’t be much you could do if a similar breach happened at your doctor’s office. But once again, information should be given as needed. Your doctor doesn’t need to know you go to Alcoholics Anonymous or Gamblers Anonymous meetings. If you’ve been treated for an STD at the county health department, continue going there for treatment instead of letting more people know about the condition.
Financial Details
The IRS was hit with a class-action lawsuit in 2013 after agents stormed a California medical facility and stole hard drives containing health-care records of some 10 million patients across the country. The agency said it had a warrant for the records of one former employee of the facility, but instead took all records for everyone.
This was obviously a power grab by the agency to sift through medical records of millions of people to see if they could find information that would help them collect more revenue from various individuals. Once again, information should be given on a need-to-know basis.
Use pre-paid credit cards or cash to settle your co-pays and any other fees and deductibles at doctors’ offices. Do not talk to your doctor about your timeshare in Cabo or your offshore accounts in Singapore. Psychiatrists and other doctors take notes and would have all that information readily available for the IRS. It’s also not a bad idea to use a post office box instead your physical address on all forms. The fewer details they have about you, the less of a case they can build.
Your doctor can no longer be considered a close friend you confide in about anything and everything. Always look at the patient-doctor relationship as business to maximize your privacy and well-being.
Source: http://truthisscary.com/2015/03/3-things-your-doctor-doesnt-need-to-know/
