Health Services Research: Public Benefits, Personal Privacy, and Proprietary Interests

Editorials15 November 1998Health Services Research: Public Benefits, Personal Privacy, and Proprietary InterestsLawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD (Hon) and Jack Hadley, PhDLawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD (Hon)Georgetown University; Washington, DC 20001 and Jack Hadley, PhDGeorgetown University; Washington, DC 20001Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-129-10-199811150-00017 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail As a society, we benefit considerably from health services research in understanding use, outcomes, patterns of practice, and determinants of cost of health care. Health services research has helped to create and evaluate Medicare's Prospective Payment System [1]; identify potential risks for undertreatment in systems of care that pay providers solely on the basis of capitation [2]; and evaluate the cost-effectiveness of pharmaceuticals, surgical procedures, and other important medical interventions [3, 4].Health services research develops methods and measures to assess the quality of care provided by health plans, hospitals, physician groups, and individual physicians. Recognizing the probabilistic nature of ...References1. Russell LB. Medicare's New Hospital Payment System: Is it Working? Washington, DC: Brookings Institution; 1989. Google Scholar2. Ellis RP, McGuire TG. Provider behavior under prospective reimbursement. Cost sharing and supply. J Health Econ. 1986; 5:129-51. Google Scholar3. Newhouse J. Reimbursing health plans and health providers: efficiency in production versus selection. Journal of Economic Literature. 1996; 34:1236-63. Google Scholar4. Gold M, Siegal J, Russel L, Weinstein M, eds. Cost-Effectiveness in Health and Medicine. New York: Oxford Univ Pr; 1996. Google Scholar5. U.S. Information Infrastructure Task Force, Privacy Working Group. Privacy and the National Information Infrastructure: Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information. Washington, DC: National Telecommunications and information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce; 1995. Google Scholar6. National Research Council. Committee on Maintaining Privacy and Security in Health Care Applications of the National Information Infrastructure. For the Record: Protecting Electronic Health Information. Washington, DC: National Academy Pr; 1997. Google Scholar7. Gostin LO, Lazzarini Z, Neslund VS, Osterholm MT. The public health information infrastructure. A national review of the law on health information privacy. JAMA. 1996; 275:1921-7. Google Scholar8. Lowrance WW. Privacy and Health Research: A Report to the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Washington, DC: Dept. of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation; 1997. Google Scholar9. Gostin LO. Health information privacy. Cornell Law Review. 1995; 80:101-84. Google Scholar10. Goldman J, Mulligan D. Privacy and Health Information Systems: A Guide to Protecting Patient Confidentiality. Washington, DC: Center for Democracy and Technology; 1996. Google Scholar11. Public law statute 104-191. Google Scholar12. Secretary of Health and Human Services. Confidentiality of individually identifiable health information: recommendations of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, pursuant to Section 264 of the Health insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Submitted to the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources, 11 September 1997. Google Scholar13. McCarthy DB, Chatin D, Drinkard C, Kleinman JH. Medical Records and Confidentiality: Empirical Results of Legislation. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Health Services Research, Washington, DC, 23 June 1998. Google Scholar14. Miller RH, Luft HS. Managed care plan performance since 1980. A literature analysis. JAMA. 1994; 271:1512-9. Google Scholar15. Ware JE Jr, Bayliss MS, Rogers WH, Kosinski M, Tarlov AR. Differences in 4-year health outcomes for elderly and poor, chronically ill patients treated in HMO and fee-for-service systems. JAMA. 1996; 276:1039-47. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD (Hon); Jack Hadley, PhDAffiliations: Georgetown University; Washington, DC 20001Corresponding Author: Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD (Hon), Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001; e-mail, [email protected].Current Author Addresses: Dr. Gostin: Georgetown University Law Center, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001. Dr. Hadley: Institute for Health Care Policy and Research, Suite 525, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20007. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Cited byNeighborhood geographic disparities in heart attack and stroke mortality: Comparison of global and local modeling approachesEthics in medical research: General principles with special reference to psychiatry researchFeasibility of a patient decision aid regarding disclosure of personal health information: qualitative evaluation of the Health Care Information DirectiveThe use of personal data from medical records and biological materials: ethical perspectives and the basis for legal restrictions in health researchRestricción al uso de datos personales en la práctica y en la investigación sanitarias: a propósito de una sentencia sobre el registro de infecciones por el virus de la inmunodeficiencia humanaMortality Trends During a Program That Publicly Reported Hospital PerformanceThe health care information directiveShared expectations for protection of identifiable health care informationConsent in Epidemiology: Implications of History for Public Policy 15 November 1998Volume 129, Issue 10 Page: 833-835 Keywords Databases Disclosure Health care Health care providers Health information technology Health services research Medical services Prevention, policy, and public health Research quality assessment Statistical data ePublished: 15 August 2000 Issue Published: 15 November 1998 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 1998 by American College of Physicians. 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