Stimulus Law Threatens Privacy of Medical Info

"While it is touted as a major tool for lowering health care costs, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) has serious implications for Americans' health privacy. The Institute for Health Freedom (IHF) warns that the economic stimulus law (H.R. 1, Public Law No. 111-5) weakens individuals' control over the flow of their personal health information. 'The economic stimulus law plans for every American to use an electronic health record (EHR) and allows those records to be sold for research and public-health purposes -- without patients' consent,' said Sue Blevins, IHF president."