Since before the evolution/promulgation of HIPPA, the nation's workers' compensation system has struggled with issues surrounding medical record privacy and dissemination of data. While establishing an aura of confidentiality, the nation's workers' compensation system has difficulty in maintaining strict medical record privacy.
Excluded from HIPPA, workers' compensation programs exchange huge amounts of medical records in order to efficiently and expeditiously process work related traumatic and occupational exposure claims. The balancing of interests continues to be an evolving process, especially in light of recent mass computer hacking of corporate entities and their employee data.
In a recent social media posting, John Geaney, Esq. defense attorney practicing in NJ, describes how NJ employers and employee may obtain/exchange/disseminate medical records. Albeit that is only the tip of the medical records corporate iceberg/nightmare, the future remains even more uncertain as computer hacking escalates and national computer security issues become more involved and complicated. The future will even become more complicated as interests of stakeholders are increasingly challenged by technology.
