Anyone who has gone to the doctor or the hospital in recent years is familiar with so called privacy rules that you are given. Each doctor's office has you sign a document in which you acknowledge that you were told about those privacy rules and given a copy of them. Each hospital requires you to sign similar documents prior to your admission to the hospital.
Here's a simple question? Have you ever read those privacy rules? Have you ever sat down in the waiting room and spent ten minutes reading the small print that tells you what the doctor will do with your information? Do you know anyone who has actually read those rules? Indeed, do you know anyone who reads the privacy rules at each doctor or hospital and determines whether or not those rules are fair and proper?
I think it is safe to say that greater than ninety nine percent of all patients pay no attention whatsoever to the privacy rules. Nevertheless, federal law requires that the doctors and hospitals get these useless forms signed.
But it even gets worse. If you go to the pharmacy and ask a question about your prescriptions, the people behind the counter will often tell you that they cannot discuss the matter. It might compromise your privacy, you see. If I ask a question about a particular prescription, they cannot tell me the answer because someone behind me in line might hear what they say. That may sound unbelievable, but it has happened to me more than once.
So here's one more question: what do you think it cost the USA each year to require all these meaningless privacy forms and rules in our medical system? The answer is a great many billions of dollars. Even the government estimates that the cost of compliance is about a quarter of a billion dollars per year. The government, however, leaves out the cost of the time lost for compliance.
Just imagine if the rules were changed so that each organization had to have privacy rules that would be furnished to a patient on demand. Most likely, that would save 99 percent of all costs.
The next time someone tells you how we need experts in Washington to run our healthcare system, ask them about HIPAA and the privacy rules and about which expert dreamed this thing up.
Here's a simple question? Have you ever read those privacy rules? Have you ever sat down in the waiting room and spent ten minutes reading the small print that tells you what the doctor will do with your information? Do you know anyone who has actually read those rules? Indeed, do you know anyone who reads the privacy rules at each doctor or hospital and determines whether or not those rules are fair and proper?
I think it is safe to say that greater than ninety nine percent of all patients pay no attention whatsoever to the privacy rules. Nevertheless, federal law requires that the doctors and hospitals get these useless forms signed.
But it even gets worse. If you go to the pharmacy and ask a question about your prescriptions, the people behind the counter will often tell you that they cannot discuss the matter. It might compromise your privacy, you see. If I ask a question about a particular prescription, they cannot tell me the answer because someone behind me in line might hear what they say. That may sound unbelievable, but it has happened to me more than once.
So here's one more question: what do you think it cost the USA each year to require all these meaningless privacy forms and rules in our medical system? The answer is a great many billions of dollars. Even the government estimates that the cost of compliance is about a quarter of a billion dollars per year. The government, however, leaves out the cost of the time lost for compliance.
Just imagine if the rules were changed so that each organization had to have privacy rules that would be furnished to a patient on demand. Most likely, that would save 99 percent of all costs.
The next time someone tells you how we need experts in Washington to run our healthcare system, ask them about HIPAA and the privacy rules and about which expert dreamed this thing up.
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