National Coordinator for Health Information Technology David Blumenthal said last week that Americans should not fear their health information ending up at the CIA, FBI or other federal agencies dealing in security and law enforcement, Modern Healthcare reports.Blumenthal denied allegations that a framework for selecting data transmissions standards for the proposed national health information network would configure the system to afford federal control over patient data and funnel that information to federal agencies, including the CIA, Department of Justice and National Security Agency.
He said there had been rumors in the blogosphere about the National Information Exchange Model, which is a federal, state, local and tribal interagency initiative providing a foundation for seamless information exchange. Developed by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, NIEM is used to provide technical tools to support development, as well as facilitate intelligence exchange. However, Blumenthal said his office would not participate in any exchange project that would allow health information to be controlled by those agencies.
