Such Shameful Things

Nevertheless, these electronic breaches are unsettling for providers because the federal government has adopted a zero-tolerance stance. And to assure the public that their records will be safe, the feds have also stepped up HIPAA enforcement and penalties. That has a lot of people nervous, because nobody really knows what those new enforcement dictates—or the penalties—will look like when they're finalized ("HealthLeaders Media Daily News & Analysis," May 26, 2009).

But that shouldn't be a cause for paralysis. The fundamental principle is still the same: Protect patient confidentiality. And the fundamental responsibility for doing so belongs to the industry's leadership.

Hippocrates wrote of the need to keep a patient's medical (and even nonmedical) issues "to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about." And, indeed, none of the recent cases involves a physician's transgression.

There will continue to be new breaches, and they will continue to be shameful things. With advanced technology and aggressive leadership, the problem will not become a crisis.