Blue Cross Wants Data By Breaking Patient Confidentiality

EFluxMedia.com reported that, "Blue Cross, the largest health insurer of its kind in California, has asked physicians across the state to report any “material medical history” their patients didn’t mention when they applied for insurance, including “pre-existing pregnancies”, the Los Angeles Times reports. That request however has raised a lot of questions on whether disclosing that information would violate the doctor – patient confidentiality policy.

As it appears, physicians are not ready yet to respond to Blue Cross’ request: “We’re outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out of medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality,” Dr. Richard Frankenstein, president of the California Medical Association, said to the same newspaper." Read the full report here.

Due to this request on the part of the insurance agency many patients might withhold very important information from thier healthcare provider, which could impact the level of care they receive and may even lead to complications that could have been avoided if the doctor knew about the patients true health status.

If Blue Cross asked me to give them information, without the permission of my patient, I would tell them to take a walk.

Posted by Juliette Aiyana, L.Ac.