Blue Cross Sharing Claims and More to ...

Back in August, it was reported that Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) will share claims and health information on 79+ million people to emploers, drug companies, and other private and public organizations. A list of the BCBS providers can be found here.

In an interesting response, the head of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation said "This move by the Blues reveals what Americans can expect from an electronic health system because they no longer have the right to control access to their medical records. Their sensitive health records will be used for corporate profits and in ways that can directly harm them."

But wait, let's think about this... did we ever have the right to control access to our medical records?

I agree that the unregulated disclosure of patient-specific information is potentially harmful to the enrollees of BCBS. Granted, until we know the control mechanisms that have been institute by the BCBS administration, we can't determine the extent to which patients are being put in harms way. If the appropriate safeguards are taken then it is possible to share patient-specific data with probable patient protections. Anyone know the details of this endeavor?