Hello Data,  Goodbye Privacy

An American has no sense of privacy.  He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in this country.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), New York City Speech, 1933

Poor Prognosis for Privacy

Melinda Beck,  Title of Wall Street Journal Article, May 2, 2012

Regional exchanges

Need your Electronic Medical Records data

To transfer to other plans if needed

To assure your data is not left unheeded.

State claims databases

Need your medical and data claims 
To track their costs and trends
To prevent Medicaid cost bends.

Hospital discharge files

Need your length of stay and diagnoses

To see the direction of their cost
To guarantee  no money is lost.

Prescription databases

Need to know drugs you bought

To monitor their sales and abuse
With no untreated disease on the loose.

Public-health agencies

Need to know your diseases and vaccinations
To monitor trends and overall health

To protect against outbreak  stealth.

Insurers and Medicare

need to know your claims, diagnoses, and visits

To see  who to pay

To tie everything into a neat financial knot

Doctors and hospitals

Need to know  your records data
To track use, quality, and value
To know what care is taboo.

And last, but not least, the federal government

Needs your costs and outcomes data
For comparative outcome research
To judge what’s right from their lofty perch.

And as for you and your privacy

Everyone it sometimes seems
needs to know your personal health  data
There is simply no escapes
From computer tracking tapes

Tweet:  When it comes to your personal health data, its schemata and stigmata, and errata, you are  everyone's pinata.