Does your IT contract violate HIPAA?

Article

It may be worth checking. Internist Paul Tang, vice president and chief medical information officer of the multispecialty group practice Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation, says he's seen contracts from electronic and personal health-record vendors that obligate physicians to violate the federal health-care privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

It may be worth checking. Internist Paul Tang, vice president and chief medical information officer of the multispecialty group practice Palo Alto (Calif.) Medical Foundation, says he's seen contracts from electronic and personal health-record vendors that obligate physicians to violate the federal health-care privacy rules under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

While such language is not the standard, Tang told Modern Healthcare (7/23/2007), "There are contracts that say they (the vendors) will have real-time access to the database, that they will have exclusive access to the data, that they can resell the data. I think it would be unlawful that covered entities abide by that."

Robert Gellman, an attorney specializing in privacy issues, agrees: "Any contract that deals with ownership of medical data is pretty meaningless, because laws and medical ethics control the rights and responsibilities of medical records."

Recent Videos
First US national HPV conference highlights advances in cancer prevention | Image Credit: uchealth.com.
Mitchell Creinin, MD, reports estetrol pill eases menstrual symptoms | Image Credit: health.ucdavis.edu
1 expert is featured in this series.
Susanna Mitro, PhD, reveals ethnic disparities in uterine fibroid diagnosis | Image Credit: divisionofresearch.kaiserpermanente.org.
Shayna Mancuso, DO, highlights the real impact of menopause | Image Credit: linkedin.com.
Jihong Liu, ScD, explains how to improve perinatal outcomes in COVID patients | Image Credit: sc.edu.
1 expert is featured in this series.
Jihong Liu, ScD, highlights adverse perinatal outcomes linked to the COVID pandemic | Image Credit: sc.edu.
Experts highlight infant health benefits from minor diet changes in pregnancy | Image Credit: ohsu.edu.
Connie Stark, RNC, PNC, provides fertility preservation insights for endometriosis patients | Image Credit: linkedin.com.
Related Content
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.