The HIT Privacy Debate Continues

Modern Healthcare.com reports that one of the two consumer representatives on the 23 member HITSP board of directors has resigned. HITSP is the ANSI panel responsible for establishing health information technology standards under an HHS contract. "The resignation, though not in protest, comes with Rein adding her voice to those of several others recently who criticized federal efforts to promote healthcare information technology without first firmly establishing a foundation of a national healthcare privacy policy." However, the report also notes that the resigning HITSP director Alison Rein remains a member of the AHIC privacy workgroup and of the State Alliance for e-Health.