Balancing Health Privacy, Health Information Exchange and Research in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Lenert, Leslie; McSwain, Brooke Yeager

The novel coronavirus COVID-19 infection poses serious challenges to the healthcare system that are being addressed through the creation of new unique and advanced systems of care with disjointed care processes (telehealth screening, drive-through specimen collection, remote testing, telehealth management, etc.) However, our current regulations on the flows of information for clinical care and research are antiquated and often conflict at the state and federal level. This paper discusses proposed changes to privacy regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act (HIPAA) designed to let health information seamlessly and frictionlessly flow between the health entities that need to collaborate on treatment of patients and, also, allow it to flow to researchers trying to understand how to limit its impacts.