World Privacy Forum files comments with the FTC regarding proposed rules for health care-related data breaches
Data Breach of Health Records – FTC — The World Privacy Forum filed extensive comments with the Federal Trade Commission today regarding its notice of proposed rulemaking for data breaches of information containing actual health care information or health care-related information. The FTC rulemaking will apply to a variety of record holders, especially vendors of personal health records. The Forum supported much of the FTC’s proposed rulemaking, finding the rulemaking generally thoughtful and careful. In some areas, the Forum urged the FTC to narrow and further define and strengthen the proposed rule. The World Privacy Forum urged the FTC to tighten language around scope, the definition of “personal health record,” law enforcement delays of consumer notification, and urged the FTC to further clarify the definition of what falls under the category of “de-identified data.” Citing the research of Dr. LaTanya Sweeney and others, the Forum urged the FTC to require commercial companies and others holding health care data that has been partially de-identified to still report those breaches to the FTC and the public, and to monitor for re-identification.