The Trump administration is demanding that hospitals share detailed, personally identifiable medical records of all patients who seek help at their emergency rooms. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is behind the effort, which has raised concerns about patient privacy and the potential for data breaches.

Concerns About Patient Privacy

Hospital lawyers and industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect such sensitive information and its ability to safeguard it. The CPSC has a history of improperly releasing personal health information, with around 30,000 people affected between 2017 and 2019.

The agency’s goal is to obtain millions of Americans’ medical records from emergency room visits for most injuries, from a broken bone to a childhood vaccine reaction or even a suicide attempt. The CPSC wants at least 100 hospitals to start sending detailed medical records by the end of this year.

Use of Private Contractor

The CPSC has hired a private contractor, Konza Health, to collect and analyze the medical records. Konza will automatically pull and analyze medical records of all patient visits from ERs nationwide. The company’s president and CEO, Laura McCrary, has described ERs’ participation as ‘required,’ stipulating that they share patients’ records with identifying information.

Experts have raised concerns about the risks of giving a private entity access to a sweeping collection of sensitive data. ‘If this company really is collecting identifiable information, that is worrisome for patients,’ said Sharona Hoffman, a professor of health law at Case Western Reserve University.

Original reporting: Texarkana Gazette — read the source article.