Project Overreach ...

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Let's think about this, not the Orwellian part and it's gross violation of people's privacy but rather the logistics. Complexity reigns in terms of patient records. The US HC system is bad enough but now, to have a tiny agency, ill equipped to handle the dataset in question, data coming from many EHR databases using different field names and relational configurations to manage said content, promises to be a CF for the ages, not to mention the security issues of protecting these inhaled records and the possibilities of records getting lost or sent to unknown destinations. This is not feasible. The innate stupidity of trying to do this in direct violation of the 4th amendment boggles the mind. 

The Consumer Product Safety Commission, responsible for tracking and issuing recalls of dangerous products sold in the U.S., began discreetly pressuring hospital executives this year to share personally identifiable health data with a private contractor. But hospital lawyers and other industry experts have questioned the agency’s authority to collect, its ability to safeguard such a swath of sensitive information, and whether it has followed the legal process to overhaul its surveillance system.

After KFF Health News asked the CPSC about the new system, the agency announced the program on July 21. Left unmentioned, however, is the alarm it has raised among hospital executives, as well as the nature and extent of the agency’s data demands.

In a stark departure from its product-focused mission, the agency’s goal is to obtain millions of Americans’ medical records from emergency room visits for most injuries, from a broken bone to a childhood vaccine reaction or even a suicide attempt, according to documents and emails obtained by KFF Health News, as well as interviews with five people involved or familiar with the discussions.

A CPSC official also insisted in the emails that the institutions provide all ER patients’ identifiable information — such as names, addresses, diagnoses, and other personal details — to the contractor, Konza Health, for analysis. In correspondence with hospital executives, Konza representatives described participation as “mandatory” or “required.”

Click here for the CPSC document.

Chilling says it all. 

Read the rest of the in depth KFF Health Report, you will learn something, I know I have.