COVID-19 is Bringing Data Privacy into the Spotlight – This is How Healthcare Companies Should Respond

By DAN LINTON Privacy concerns across the country continue to increase, and consumers expect their healthcare information to be private. Headline-making data sales, skepticism of Silicon Valley privacy practices, and COVID-19 contact tracing concerns compounded with a general lack of consumer awareness have continued to generate an ongoing storm ofnegative press and political scrutiny. With COVID-19 continuing to rampage throughout the country, there is a need for the contact tracing and other technology applications to assess public health. At the same time, changing HHS rules are giving Americans more access and control over their own health data. Both availability and the promise of positive impact of data on people’s lives has never been greater. Despite the critical need and incredible potential, there is still a great deal of confusion, lack of awareness and heightened concern among consumers. Studies show that the vast majority of Americans think the potential risks of data collection outweighs the potential benefits. Clamping down on data privacy stifles innovation, and moving forward as we’ve been doing presents a potential privacy minefield. So, what should the healthcare industry do about it? It is clear that data privacy, and particularly health data privacy, is crucial to consumer trust. Yet we also know thatconsumers are unclear who may be collecting their health data, or...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Data Health Tech COVID-19 data privacy Health Data Source Type: blogs