Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Quick Links: iPad, HIPAA, Silence

The KevinMD.com medical website has posted my "thank you" essay to Apple and Steve Jobs, "My iPad and My Hip Fracture" (9/12/2011). Thank you, Dr. Kevin Pho!

KevinMD.com also posted Jared Rhoads' OpEd, "New HIPAA rules won’t enhance privacy, but they will burden physicians" (9/11/2011).

Rhoads' take-home point:
Many patients are rightfully concerned about the privacy of their health information. But the proper way to protect patient privacy is not to enshrine it as a new set of "rights" granted by regulators who seek to expand HIPAA. Instead, we should let hospitals and physicians win patient trust competitively through the demonstration of good practices and through the inclusion of clearly-worded contractual commitments to ensuring privacy. The courts are well-equipped to adjudicate such contractual issues. Let's use natural market incentives to secure our privacy, not government rule making processes.
In the 9/12/2011 AmSpec, Grace-Marie Turner describes "Obama's Strategy of Silence".

The Obama administration wants the public spotlight away from ObamaCare because they know it's a political loser. For this very reason, freedom-loving Americans should continue to keep it alive as a public issue. Sunlight is the best disinfectant. (Via David Catron.)