Electronic Health Records

Jun 28 2023

WPF advises HHS regarding proposed changes to standards for privacy under HIPAA

WPF provided detailed comments to the US Department of Health and Human Services regarding its proposal for changes to HIPAA regarding modifications to the Privacy Rule. Specifically, HHS proposed modifications to standards for the privacy of individually identifiable health information. WPF supports many of the changes proposed in the NPRM.

Jan 26 2023

WPF advises HHS on confidentiality of patient records re: alcohol and drug treatment records

The World Privacy Forum (WPF) submitted comments on an important Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposes modifications of the protection requirements for substance use disorder (SUD) treatment records. Currently, health records regarding treatment for Substance Use Disorders receive special protections under what is called Part 2 regulations, or, 42 CFR Part 2. The changes proposed

Jul 08 2022

HIPAA and Reproductive Health: A companion FAQ to the Patient’s Guide to HIPAA

July 2022 Download a PDF The World Privacy Forum publishes and maintains A Patient’s Guide to HIPAA, which is a plain language explanation of how to use the law to guard your health privacy. This companion FAQ on HIPAA is focused on reproductive health privacy in response to the many questions we are receiving from

Dec 07 2021

WPF advises OSHA re: employee vaccination information

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published its proposal regarding how employee vaccination information will be treated by employers. WPF’s analysis has found a meaningful loophole in privacy protections, and has proposed a remedy to OSHA.

May 06 2021

WPF comments on HHS proposal to change HIPAA Privacy Rule

WPF filed comments today with the Department of Health and Human Services regarding an important Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that, if adopted, will bring substantial changes to patients’ electronic health records and how they are managed, among other issues. In general, we found much to support in the NPRM. However, there are sections of the

New Report: Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new WPF report, “Risky Analysis: Assessing and Improving AI Governance Tools.” This report sets out a definition of AI governance tools, documents why and how these tools are critically important for trustworthy AI, and where these tools are around the world. The report also documents problems in some AI governance tools themselves, and suggests pathways to improve AI governance tools and create an evaluative environment to measure their effectiveness. AI systems should not be deployed without simultaneously evaluating the potential adverse impacts of such systems and mitigating their risks, and most of the world agrees about the need to take precautions against the threats posed. The specific tools and techniques that exist to evaluate and measure AI systems for their inclusiveness, fairness, explainability, privacy, safety and other trustworthiness issues — called in the report collectively AI governance tools – can improve such issues. While some AI governance tools provide reassurance to the public and to regulators, the tools too often lack meaningful oversight and quality assessments. Incomplete or ineffective AI governance tools can create a false sense of confidence, cause unintended problems, and generally undermine the promise of AI systems. The report contains rich background details, use cases, potential solutions to the problems discussed in the report, and a global index of AI Governance Tools.
National IDs Around the World — Interactive map

About this Data Visualization: This interactive map displays the presence...
Report: From the Filing Cabinet to the Cloud: Updating the Privacy Act of 1974

This comprehensive report and proposed bill text is focused on the Privacy Act of 1974, an important and early Federal privacy law that applies to the government sector and some contractors. The Privacy Act was written for the 1970s information era -- an era that was characterized by the use of mainframe computers and filing cabinets. Today's digital information era looks much different than the '70s: smart phones are smarter than the old mainframes, and documents are now routinely digitized and stored and perhaps even analyzed in the cloud, among many other changes. The report focuses on why the Privacy Act needs an update that will bring it into this century, and how that could look and work. This work was written by Robert Gellman, and informed by a two-year multi-stakeholder process.