California Enacts Two Laws on Patient Privacy

In Wall Street Journal Health Blog Posted by Jacob Goldstein California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday signed into law two bills designed to protect patient privacy. In recent months, the privacy of dozens of high-profile patients at UCLA Medical Center was violated when unauthorized employees looked at their files. What’s more, plenty of folks have cited privacy worries as one of the barriers slowing the move toward electronic record-keeping in health care. So it makes sense that California’s Legislature would have been eager to pass (and the governor ready to sign) the new laws. They allow for penalties of up to $250,000 for breaches of patient privacy, and create a new “Office of Health Information Integrity” within the state health department.