Several days ago, I passed around a survey to gauge people's concerns about protecting their private information. The survey is now closed and you can see the results and comments here: Survey Results. In summary, 92% of respondents were more concerned with “Protection of my personal identity and financial data” vs. 8% with “Protection of my electronic health record data.”
I appreciate everyone's participation. Although certainly not a "Gallup Certified" survey, the breadth of people responding was very wide and, IMO, very representative of our society.
Clearly, we must and will protect both types of information, particularly in healthcare—this is not an “either/or” situation. However, as we spend limited time and money protecting our private information in general, it would seem that we should take these perceptions of public concern in mind. In healthcare, we’ve spent significant resources protecting personal health information as a consequence of HIPAA, and rightly so, but only recently have we focused similar attention on personal identity theft, as required by the Federal Trade Commission’s “Red Flag” rule.
Thanks again to those of you who participated!
