Gartner predicts e-business could suffer from delay of HIPAA privacy regulation
Gartner suggests that the privacy regulation would allow for patient information to be easily accessed by healthcare practitioners via the Internet, while ensuring stringent privacy measures. Gartner also highlighted the importance of the Internet and its potential to improve the quality of healthcare, lower the cost of services, broaden consumer choices, promote wellness and help manage chronic diseases.
"This regulation is not only essential for the transformation of the healthcare industry, but also to HIPAA itself," said Jim Klein, Vice President and Research Director for Gartner. "HIPAA privacy is the foundation of HIPAA and delaying or removing the privacy component will likely have a domino effect -- potentially taking all of HIPAA down with it."
According to Gartner, for e-healthcare to be successful, patients need to feel secure in allowing their personal health information to be posted to the Internet strictly for legitimate medical purposes. Gartner suggests this can only be achieved if strong federal protections exist to ensure confidentiality of medical records. "Otherwise, patients simply will not cooperate or participate in e-health relationships," said Klein.