Patients don't think payers, providers can protect their data, survey finds

Paige Minemyer
Fierce Healthcare
Originally published on August 26, 2019

Patients are skeptical of healthcare industry players’ ability to protect their data—and believe health insurers to be the worst at doing so, a new survey shows.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Politico surveyed 1,009 adults in mid-July and found that just 17% have a “great deal” of faith that their health plan will protect their data.

By contrast, 24% said they had a “great deal” of trust in their hospital to protect their data, and 34% said the same about their physician’s office. In addition, 22% of respondents said they had “not very much” trust in their insurer to protect their data, and 17% said they had no trust at all.

The firms that fared the worst on the survey, however, were online search engines and social media sites. Only 7% said they have a “great deal” of trust in search engines such as Google to protect their data, and only 3% said the same about social media platforms.

The info is here.

Ethical Considerations Regarding Internet Searches for Patient Information.

Charles C. Dike, Philip Candilis, Barbara Kocsis  and others
Psychiatric Services
Published Online:17 Jan 2019

Abstract

In 2010, the American Medical Association developed policies regarding professionalism in the use of social media, but it did not present specific ethical guidelines on targeted Internet searches for information about a patient or the patient’s family members. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) provided some guidance in 2016 through the Opinions of the Ethics Committee, but published opinions are limited. On behalf of the APA Ethics Committee, the authors developed a resource document describing ethical considerations regarding Internet and social media searches for patient information, from which this article has been adapted. Recommendations include the following. Except in emergencies, it is advisable to obtain a patient’s informed consent before performing such a search. The psychiatrist should be aware of his or her motivations for performing a search and should avoid doing so unless it serves the patient’s best interests. Information obtained through such searches should be handled with sensitivity regarding the patient’s privacy. The psychiatrist should consider how the search might influence the clinician-patient relationship. When interpreted with caution, Internet- and social media–based information may be appropriate to consider in forensic evaluations.

The info is here.

What Does Patient Autonomy Mean for Doctors and Drug Makers?

Christina Sandefur
The Conversation
Originally published July 26, 2017

Here is an excerpt:

Although Bateman-House fears that deferring to patients comes at the expense of physician autonomy, she also laments that physicians currently abuse the freedom they have, failing to spend enough time with their patients, which she says undermines a patient’s ability to make informed medical decisions.

Even if it’s true that physician consultations aren’t as thorough as they once were, patients today have better access to health care information than ever before. According to the Pew Research Center, two-thirds of U.S. adults have broadband internet in their homes, and 13 percent who lack it can access the internet through a smartphone. Pew reports that more than half of adult internet users go online to get information on medical conditions, 43 percent on treatments, and 16 percent on drug safety. Yet despite their desire to research these issues online, 70 percent still sought out additional information from a doctor or other professional.

In other words, people are making greater efforts to learn about health care on their own. True, not all such information on the internet is accurate. But encouraging patients to seek out information from multiple sources is a good thing. In fact, requiring government approval of treatments may lull patients into a false sense of security. As Connor Boyack, president of the Libertas Institute, points out, “Instead of doing their own due diligence and research, the overwhelming majority of people simply concern themselves with whether or not the FDA says a certain product is okay to use.” But blind reliance on a government bureaucracy is rarely a good idea.

The article can be found here.