Fragmented: A Doctor's Quest to Piece Together American Health Care

by Ilana Yurkiewicz MD

The handwringing over privacy may not be necessary. According to Lucia Savage, a lawyer and the former chief privacy officer at the ONC, the same privacy rules apply no matter how patient files are shared—whether by handwritten notes, faxes, or electronic files. “Doctors, nurses, physician assistants—they have ethical rules,” she said. “They’re not supposed to be snooping around someone’s data because he’s Steve Jobs.… We have to assume people act professionally and ethically in this space.”

The issue is that people foolishly believe that an electronic medium can be shared more easily so it is less private. There is a belief that paper and faxes keep it private by making it hard.