Capitalizing on the pandemic explosion in telehealth and therapy apps that collect details of your mental health needs, data brokers are packaging that information for resale, a new study finds. There’s no law stopping them.
One company advertised the names and home addresses of people with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress or bipolar disorder. Another sold a database featuring thousands of aggregated mental health records, starting at $275 per 1,000 “ailment contacts.”
Does your telehealth app sell your information? There is no law against it if they get your data.
HIPAA regulations protect your data in your electronic health records. However, there may be some telehealth applications that do not comply with HIPAA regulations.
Telemedicine and HIPAA Compliance
The portions of HIPAA governing telemedicine are the Privacy Rule and the Security Rule. The HIPAA Privacy Rule sets standards to protect patient medical records or any personal health information (PHI) transmitted between health insurance companies, clinicians, testing facilities, or anywhere this data is shared.
If you are using an EHR portal or connect via a text link from your provider, the telehealth application is HIPAA compliant.
Most of what you need to know about health information technology
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