Reminds me of this Seinfeld episode when Elaine was marked as "difficult" in her chart, and then she couldn't get a single doctor to see her. She wasn't allowed to see her chart or edit it after that. As soon as she got to a new clinic, they would receive a phone call from another doctor warning them not to treat her.

S8.E5 The Package

(https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/seinfeld/comments/168m2d9/anyo...)

I doubt it was a critique of HIPPA, although the episode was published a little under 2 months after HIPPA was signed.

How great would it be for our privacy if they went back to paper records, though.

> But about 1.5 million private entities can legally access your data

Somewhat. They are allowed to access it "for treatment purposes", not just to nose around out of curiosity.

I found myself explaining this to a number of my patients (I used to be a paramedic) who were irate about disclosures they'd made to their therapist, doctor, etc., that they had said they didn't want revealed to other providers (but were actually germane to their care).

"Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule permit doctors, nurses, and other health care providers to share patient health information for treatment purposes without the patient’s authorization? Answer: Yes. The Privacy Rule allows those doctors, nurses, hospitals, laboratory technicians, and other health care providers that are covered entities to use or disclose protected health information, such as X-rays, laboratory and pathology reports, diagnoses, and other medical information for treatment purposes without the patient’s authorization."

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/faq/481/does-hip...