The company contracted with the state to manage Alaska’s new online medical records data base is defending its privacy protections. The Alaska E-health Network, like many across the country, resulted from state and federal mandates designed to improve efficiency and privacy of health information transfer. It was piloted in Fairbanks, and went live this summer statewide. Alaskans are required to opt out of the system if they don’t want their medical records in the data base. The American Civil Liberties Union is critical of that, and has also raised concerns about access by hackers and government agencies.
Dan Bross is a reporter at KUAC in Fairbanks.