HealthCare.gov Database Consumer Data Retention Draws Privacy Concerns

June 17, 2015
News reports cite the concerns of data privacy advocates over the long-term retention of consumers’ personal data in the database supporting HealthCare.gov

According to a report at iHealthBeat online, “A federal website describes MIDAS as the ‘perpetual central repository’ for data collected under the Affordable Care Act, according to AP ABC News. The system contains information such as individuals’ names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates, employment status, financial accounts, and passport numbers.” In January, a federal assessment of the database stated that information “is maintained indefinitely at this time.”

The iHealthBeat report quoted a report from Associated Press, via ABC News, that quoted Lee Tien, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation as saying, “A basic privacy principle is that you don’t retain data any longer than you have to. Even 10 years feels long to me,” Tien was quoted as saying.

Similarly, Michelle De Mooy, deputy director for consumer privacy at the Center for Democracy & Technology, was quoted as stating that HealthCare.gov does not notify consumers that their data are going to be stored in MIDAS.

In response to privacy advocates’ concerns, the AP/ABCS News report from June 15 quoted Marilyn Tanner, R.N., who was CMS Administrator when HealthCare.gov was launched, as having said in 2013, prior to the launch of HealthCare.gov, that “We are especially focused on storing the minimum amount of personal data possible.”

Sponsored Recommendations

Ask the Expert: Is Your Patients' Understanding Putting You at Risk?

Effective health literacy in healthcare is essential for ensuring informed consent, reducing medical malpractice risks, and enhancing patient-provider communication. Unfortunately...

Beyond the Silos: Transforming Coordinated Care Across Healthcare Systems

Coordinated healthcare is vital to delivering a high-quality patient experience, yet it has been difficult to systematize across all healthcare settings. Although it has largely...

The Healthcare Provider's Guide to Accelerating Clinician Onboarding

Improve clinician satisfaction and productivity to enhance patient care

ASK THE EXPERT: ServiceNow’s Erin Smithouser on what C-suite healthcare executives need to know about artificial intelligence

Generative artificial intelligence, also known as GenAI, learns from vast amounts of existing data and large language models to help healthcare organizations improve hospital ...

According to an Oct. 10 press release, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) finds that vaccines against 24 pathogens could reduce the number of antibiotics needed by 22% or 2.5 billion defined daily doses globally every year, supporting worldwide efforts to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR). While some of these vaccines are already available but underused, others would need to be developed and brought to the market as soon as possible. AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines, making people sicker and increasing the risk of illness, death and the spread of infections that are difficult to treat. AMR is driven largely by the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, yet, at the same time, many people around the world do not have access to essential antimicrobials. Each year, nearly 5 million deaths are associated with AMR globally. Vaccines are an essential part of the response to reduce AMR as they prevent infections, reduce the use and overuse of antimicrobials, and slow the emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens. The new report expands on a WHO study published in BMJ Global Health last year. It estimates that vaccines already in use against pneumococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib, a bacteria causing pneumonia and meningitis) and typhoid could avert up to 106 000 of the deaths associated with AMR each year. An additional 543 000 deaths associated with AMR could be averted annually when new vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and Klebsiella pneumoniae, are developed and rolled out globally. While new TB vaccines are in clinical trials, one against Klebsiella pneumoniae is in early stage of development.
dreamstime_xxl_210174616_1