Health Privacy

About health privacy, World Privacy Forum key health privacy resources

The World Privacy Forum is extremely active in health privacy, with a long and successful track record of work in this area. We have done groundbreaking work in the area of medical identity theft, as well as substantive analysis and education on critical privacy aspects of health data such as medical research, genomics, and many other issues. 

Some of our most frequently accessed health privacy resources include:

* A Patient’s Guide to HIPAA

* Medical Identity Theft Page (resources, reports, more)

* Health privacy tagged materials 

* HIPAA tagged materials 

* Electronic Health Records tagged materials 

* Common Rule and Human Subject Research Protection tagged materials

* Genetic privacy tagged materials 

We have many more publications and resources. For a full list of topics and publications, see our key issues page.

See below for health privacy news and content by date.

Health Information Exchanges in California

WPF’s new interactive map identifies Health Information Exchanges in California. A Health Information Exchange, or HIE, is technology that enables the electronic movement of health-related information among health care providers and others. HIEs are an increasingly popular way for hospitals, pharmacies, labs, and emergency room physicians to share patient information. HIEs can exchange records across one hospital, across multiple hospitals in a region, or across a whole state. If your health information is being shared through an HIE, your lab test results, medications, medical history, or other clinical information related to your health care may be included in the sharing. See more about HIEs and our California HIE Map here.

News Release: Senior ID Theft is Increasing

June 07, 2013 Washington, D. C. — Pam Dixon testified at a US Federal Trade Commission workshop event regarding the challenges seniors and their caregivers have in detecting, preventing, and handling the aftermath of medical identity theft. Dixon discussed how the crime impacts seniors in larger proportions than other parts of the population, and discussed

WPF Discussing New Research in FTC Senior ID Theft Workshop

Senior Identity Theft – FTC — WPF Executive Director Pam Dixon will be speaking at the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday on the issue of Senior ID theft, and specifically, about medical forms of the crime. Dixon, who wrote the first report on medical ID theft and coined the term for the crime, will be presenting new research at the panel.