Queens lawmaker’s bill prohibiting fi rst response service
providers from selling patient information signed into law
BY JENNA BAGCAL
New Yorker’s protected health information
is now a lot safer thanks
to new legislation passed earlier
this week.
The bill, first introduced by Assemblyman
Edward Braunstein in
2014, prohibits ambulance and first
response service providers from disclosing
or selling private patient information
to third parties for marketing
purposes.
On Oct. 7, Governor Cuomo
signed the bill, which Senator John
Liu carried into the Senate.
“Nothing is more personal than
your health records, and New Yorkers
have a right to privacy when it
comes to this incredibly sensitive
information,” Cuomo said. “This
law sets clear guidelines so patient
information isn’t sold or used
for marketing purposes and most
importantly doesn’t end up in the
wrong hands.”
Prior law allowed emergency response
providers to sell information
identifying an individual patient
including home addresses, phone
numbers, prescription names and
medical history.
Now, the law prohibits the disclosure
of such information to third
parties except to healthcare providers,
a patient’s insurer and parties
acting under the proper legal authority.
“I first introduced this legislation
in 2014 after reports surfaced
that some emergency service providers
in New York State may have
been selling patient protected
health information (PHI) for fundraising
and marketing purposes,”
Braunstein said. “Patients have a
right to privacy and their medical
information should never be sold
to pharmaceutical companies, insurers,
nursing homes, or other
businesses.”
Back in 2014, the New York
Post published an exposé revealing
that the FDNY used patients’ protected
health information for fundraising
and marketing.
The department has since
changed its privacy policy.
“We live in a world where we have
to be concerned with how our data is
being bought and used every day,”
said Liu. “Under no circumstances,
New legislation prevents emergency response personnel from selling patient information
to third parties Photo credit: Flickr/Keith Morgan
when someone is in the middle of a
life-threatening crisis, should they
have to worry about their information
being sold for any reason. This
bill provides peace of mind to New
Yorkers by protecting the privacy of
those who have suffered enough already.”
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