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Privacy of medical results obtained in a clinical setting are protected in the US by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). But what about non-clinical medical data gathered by phone apps and wearables such as a FitBit? Not so much. According to a new report, Rice expert: Be concerned about how apps collect, share health data your personal health data may be at risk:
As of 2016 there were more than 165,000 health and wellness apps available though the Apple App Store alone. According to Rice University medical media expert Kirsten Ostherr, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates only a fraction of those. Americans should be concerned about how these apps collect, save and share their personal health data, she said.
On Oct. 26 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will host a gathering of national experts to discuss "Data Privacy in the Digital Age." Ostherr, who is a professor of English and director of Rice's Medical Futures Lab, has been doing research on health and medical media for over 20 years, from "old" media like celluloid films used for medical education to "new" media like smartphone apps. She will present "Trust and Privacy in the Ecosystems of User-Generated Health and Medical Data" during a panel discussion.
[...] She said apps that make medical or therapeutic claims are considered a medical device and must go through the FDA procedures for approval and regulation. For some companies, that process is worth the time and effort, because their product could become covered by insurance.
But the vast majority of apps provide "helpful hints" in response to user-entered data, such as ideas for alleviating symptoms of a migraine.
[...] "If your app carefully sidesteps claiming any kind of medical intervention, then it's a health and wellness app and not a medical device — and it is not regulated," Ostherr said.
Regardless of whether an app is regulated, Ostherr said, they are all "capturing tons of personal data, some of which would be classified as personal health information if it were subject to oversight by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act."
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Wootery on Sunday October 22 2017, @12:22PM (1 child)
No. Medical data is special. It's extremely personal and intimate data, and deserves special protection. We're talking about the real world here, with real consequences. 'Data is data' is meaningless.
You can't blackmail someone if you find out their favourite colour. You can blackmail someone if you find out their history of STIs and sexual dysfunction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @02:09PM
You don't know many intelligence officers, do you? You can blackmail anyone with anything. Data IS data is data... But I'll give you a point for 'it is intimate data' though. That being said, I'm an advocate for extending the same protections we reserve for 'intimate data' all the way up to 'some random and innocuous factoid about me'.