Preparing for a healthcare appointment, I was going through Bazzell’s book. Something I haven’t seen before:
Each U.S. state is a member of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). Your data is likely included within this program unless you choose to opt-out. You can request a “State HIE optout form” from your doctor. If you complete this form, your information can no longer be shared through this database.
(Not so) cool. Good to know. I find the relevant forms. Straight-forward enough.
As part of this I stumbled upon myhealthconsent.org. They seem to automate these opt-out forms (of minor value imo) but also many other health insurance/provider opt-opts. And there are lot of health-related companies one can come in contact with. Doctors, pharmacies, HSAs, etc. etc. It seems like it would be a nightmare.
When it comes to consumer-data-removal Bazzell recommends against using automation but, yes, I do pay for someone to do it for me. So I’m not totally opposed to doing the same thing for health-data.
- Has anyone heard of this “MyHealthConsent” company or have used something similar?
- Even if they are trust-worthy, is it even valuable? At least patient information is somewhat gated and protected unlike consumer information, which is up for grabs by anymore.
Finally: Opt-out of HIEs! It’s one paragraph in the book and I totally missed it. For most people in the US, this should be easy.