There’s an App for that, Smart Phone App Privacy Alert

Medical apps aren’t covered by a federal privacy law, known as HIPAA, that controls how doctors and health care providers store and share patients’ health information.

Nancy Shute wrote an article that I believe all of us who use apps (applications) for smart phones or tablets should read. Initially I felt that an app to remind people to take their medication was a great idea. Shoot I even thought about trying to invest in creating such an app. 

After doing some research on such an application. What I found is that this has already been developed.  As more and more people over fifty purchase tablets that use these apps they should be aware that some of these apps may compromise important information while they may provide a much needed service.  The benefits of using an app to remind you to check your blood sugar or take your heart medication or any other medical service provided may obviously exceed the risk of your personal information being compromised as a result of user error “sharing” or loss of said device.  This article makes no inference that any app is maliciously disseminating any private information to the public.

The article was published at NPR and can be viewed at “Here”

Jerry D. Cady -B.S. Biomedical Sciences, A.S. Business Management

www.imsnaturally.com