Electronic health record (EHR) vendor Practice Fusion has accepted to settle Federal Trade Commission charges it misled clients by soliciting reviews for physicians utilizing its EHR.
The FTC contends the company did so without accurately unveiling that the feedback would be publicly posted on the Internet, resulting in the unveiling of sufferers’ sensitive personal and medical data.
In reaction to the settlement agreement, the company reports that its practices have altered and it doesn’t agree to wrongdoing. No fine was levied.
The FTC claimed its proposed charges are based on how the EHR vendor operated a treatment satisfaction survey feature from the time period of April 2012 to April 2013. The agency complaint alleges that Practice Fusion started sending emails in the month of April 2012 to sufferers of healthcare contributors utilizing its EHR service; the emails appeared to be sent on behalf of the sufferers’ doctors, inquiring them to rate their contributor. The data gathered then was utilized for a public-facing provider directory posted online in the year 2013.
“Practice Fusion’s actions led clients to share incredibly sensitive health data without realizing it would be made public,” stated the Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies that accumulate personal health data must be obvious about how they will utilize it—particularly before posting such data publicly on the Internet.”
Because sufferers mistakenly considered the data would only be shared with their contributor, the FTC claims some sufferers responded to Practice Fusion’s email solicitation by involving the inquiries about personal health data.
As part of the FTC settlement, Practice Fusion is prohibited and condemned from making fraud statements about the privacy of the data it gathers from clients. And before making any client data publicly present, the company must clearly reveal the expected utilization for information and gain consumer consent for that utilization.
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