Patients With Privacy Concerns Three Times As Likely to Withhold Details From Their Doctors
Have you ever kept information from a doctor or other health care provider because you were concerned about the privacy or security of your medical record? If so, new research at The Ohio State University College of Medicine finds you're not alone, and that could have negative implications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Researchers with CATALYST - the Center for the Advancement of Team Science, Analytics, and Systems Thinking in Health Services and Implementation Science Research - found that patients who were concerned their personal health information could be compromised if their medical records were shared electronically between health care providers were three times more likely to withhold information than those who didn't share that concern.
That's important because the U.S. Office for Civil Rights has relaxed some protections included in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services allows business associates, such as health care clearinghouses, the ability to make good-faith disclosures of medical information for public health and health oversight activities in response to COVID-19.
"While patients must be notified within 10 days, unintended effects of the revised rule are possible," said Matthew DePuccio, post-doctoral researcher in CATALYST and lead study author. "As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, health care providers and organizations should help patients understand how their personal health information could be used to monitor the spread of the coronavirus as well as improve the quality of health care delivery."
The research, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, found Black patients were more likely than white patients to withhold information. Patients who were older, married, employed, in good mental health and who had health insurance coverage were less likely to keep information from their provider.
"Taking a proactive approach and discussing the specific ways health care providers are safeguarding patients' personal health information could potentially ease patients' concerns about sharing sensitive information," DePuccio said.
DePuccio worked with fellow post-doctoral researcher Gennaro Di Tosto as well as Department of Family and Community Medicine faculty members Daniel M. Walker and Ann Scheck McAlearney, the study's senior author and principal investigator of the studies that provided data for this research.
CATALYST is a center within the Ohio State College of Medicine focused on advancing research and discovery in the delivery of health services across the continuum of care using a team science approach. Directed by McAlearney, CATALYST provides a hub for health services and implementation science research efforts, which look at how to best implement evidence-based practices to improve overall health.
This research was supported by grants from the Agency for Healthcare Research on Quality [Grant# R01HS024091, Grant# R21HS024767, and Grant# P30HS024379]. While this research was funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the study sponsor had no involvement in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
More Resources
Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting
More Medicine Information:
Related Articles
Over The Counter Pain Medication: How To Choose The Right Drugs
With the recent front-page news about the possible hazards of pain medications, you may be taking a look at your over-the-counter (or OTC) pain medications with a wary eye. While all drugs, including those you don't need a prescription for, can be dangerous, some basic knowledge can help you avoid the pitfalls for the pain relief you need.
Hidden ER Costs Undermine Health Markets
Imagine you're traveling in a different state when, suddenly, you begin to feel severe abdominal pain. Being unfamiliar with the area and wanting to avoid hefty out-of-network bills, you call your insurance company to find an in-network hospital.
Benign Tumors Of The Cervix
Endocervical polypsEndocervical polyps are the most common benign neoplasms of the cervix. Please note that the word neoplasm refers to a cancerous growth.
Top Five FAQs About Nail Fungus
What is nail fungus?Nail fungus, also known as Onychomycosis, is an organism which digests the keratin found in your fingernails and toenails. The fingernail and toenail are naturally built to be strong barriers, and resistant to fungi and other infections.
Medical Tourism Opportunities in India
More and more people have started travelling to India for Medical Treatment and during the past year alone, over 150000 people travelled to India for their medical requirements. Medical Tourism is finally coming of age.
The Truth about C Reactive Protein and Cholesterol Lowering Drugs
You might disagree, but hear me out on this..
A Compelling Look at Pain Relief
If your back aches when you're loading groceries in the car or your hands cramp up with arthritis when you sit down at the computer, you're not alone. Although the nature, cause, and complaints vary, over one-half of Americans experience chronic or recurrent pain, a recent survey conducted by the Stanford University Medical Center found.
Toenail Fungus: Treatment and Prevention
A thick, yellowish nail with splotchy white areas is a classic presentation for a fungal toenail. In the early stages the toenail is only slightly discolored, or slightly thickened.
Traditional Treatments for Back Pain... Which Ones Work and Which Ones Don't?
When Dorothy followed the yellow brick road, she was told to do so by those who wanted her to get where she wanted go. Well as humans when we blindly follow recommendations even by individuals who have good intentions, it may not always be your best option.
Bee Propolis: Synergisitc Health Care for the 21st Centruy
For well over a century modern science has progressed at a startling rate. With this increase in knowledge has come medicinal and healthcare benefits that have seen ages peak and diseases eradicated.
Mind Altering
"It's a chemical imbalance." I've heard those words so many times in the last decade, it's becoming routine for Doctors to blame everything on it.
Kids and Medication Part I
We have all talked a lot about the problems in our educational system, about latchkey kids, about teacher turnover (50 percent of teachers quitted within the first five years on the job), psychologists over prescribing medications such as Prozac and Ritalin with our friends and families. We can all foresee a terrible problem in the future because we are feeding these drugs to kids under the age of six, their brains have not been fully formed yet and these drugs and their predecessors and competing drugs all have adverse side effects.
Serevent Side Effects Put Serevent in Top 5 Most Dangerous Drugs
Serevent is an asthma inhalation medication, a bronchodilator, that relaxes the muscles in airways. It is preventative and not effective when taken during an asthma attack.
The Power of Ice
Using ice to treat injuries is one of the oldest methods of pain control. Proven to be safe and effective at reducing swelling, relieving pain and decreasing muscle spasms, ice therapy is an easy self-care technique that anyone can administer.
What Not to Tell Your Doctor?
For many years since medicine has been established as anethical profession and gained widespread credence peoplehave believed that they could and should tell their doctoreverything even remotely pertinent to their health and thatit was held in the strictest confidence. Furthermore, howcan the physician make accurate judgments when important orsignificant information is missing? This system worked verywell until relatively recently but there now exists a breachof this confidence that people should know about and thisbreach has developed from the advent of third partyinvestigations into people's backgrounds.
Bextra and Vioxx Withdrawal Spawn Advertising Pause from Bristol Myers
Pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb has announced that they will suspend direct-to-consumer advertising for their prescription drug products for a year. This comes in the wake of the well-publicized withdrawals of Merck's Vioxx and Pfizer's Bextra, two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) that were voluntarily withdrawn from the market recently.
Protopic Cancer Risk Lawyer
The FDA issued a warning in July of 2005 on two skin creams, Elidel (pimecrolimus) and Protopic (tacrolimus) to all ages. Recent animal studies have found that Protopic causes lymphomas and skin cancers in an unknown percentage of users.
Melatonin, Sleep Enhancement, and ADHD
OverviewMelatonin is a natural hormone, which is produced and secreted by the pineal gland. Melatonin plays an important role in the regulation of many hormones in the body.
Bulk Forming Drugstore Laxatives
There are five basic types of drugstore laxatives you should be aware of. Some of these laxatives can be dangerous to use.
Sinusitis: Sinus Infection Deals a Corporate KO
Sinusitis and Sinus Infection Starts with a Little SniffleYes, I hear it too. A simple sniffle in a distant cubical.
Cetyl Myristoleate for Arthrtis: Science or Speculation
There are a lot of fabulous stories about Cetyl Myristoleate (also known as CMO or CM) floating across the Internet. Mine is one of them.