WASHINGTON – In its letter last month to top officials in the Department of Health and Human Services, the American Medical Association detailed “serious concerns” about the distribution of physician demographic information over the Internet.
The organization said 30 days would not allow enough time for physicians to delete optional information that they did not want released.
“The ‘optional’ information includes an array of physician billing identification numbers used by public and private payers, as well as individually assigned Drug Enforcement Administration numbers used to prescribe controlled substances,” the AMA’s June 8 letter, signed by Michael D. Maves, MD, executive vice president and CEO, contends. Most physicians did not understand that the information they submitted was going to be widely distributed, the AMA said.
The letter also charges that CMS hasn’t fully explained why it is releasing personally identifiable physician information, and hasn’t outlined security and privacy measures it will use to protect that information from inappropriate use.
The massive release of information “will help facilitate widespread identity theft and quite possibly fraud on the Medicare program,” the letter says. “This is particularly true given that such information has been treated as protected pursuant to the Privacy Act and Freedom of Information Act exemption(s) previously by the agency.”
The AMA letter concludes by asking for the removal of all optional data and a delay in dissemination of the information. It also asks that information be distributed to only those who need it.