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Oracle Tips by Burleson |
Web Stalkers
Chapter 1 -
The Illusion of Anonymity
Finding Private
Medical Information
When the Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) was passed into law, one goal was
to reduce the unauthorized sharing of private patient information.
The penalties for unauthorized disclosure of what the act calls
“individually identifiable information” are severe. An individual
can be punished by fines of up to $250,000 US Dollars and up to 10
years in prison.
The Medical Information Bureau Group, Inc. is a
medical information clearinghouse. MIB is an association of over
500 U.S. and Canadian life insurance companies that provide
information and database management services to the financial
services industry. MIB was created to help ensure the accuracy of
the information provided to the underwriters of life, health,
disability and long term care policies.
MIB will also make an individual’s personal
information available for a small fee. There is no charge if the
information has already been released to an insurance company and
has resulted in adverse action, such as declining to write an
insurance policy or a rate increase. When a person requests a copy
of their records, MIB will provide the following information:
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Nature and substance of information
compiled.
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Name of member companies that
provided information.
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Name of member companies that
received information in the previous 12 months.
More information about MIB can be found at the
following web site, www.mib.com/html/consumer.html.
Programs such as NetDetective offer to provide
information about tens of millions of people from the United States
and Canada. These services may provide detailed information
regarding military service, driving records, vehicle histories, and
medical records. While these types of information services provide
a legitimate product to many reputable companies, there are
questions about the proper use of this personal information. The
law is clear regarding how this information can be used, what can be
considered in what circumstance, and so on. However, the law does
not guarantee compliance and the potential for abuse or at least
misuse is very high.
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