Why New Yorkers Need Control Over Their Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records improve the quality of health care by ensuring that every provider who sees a patient has access to their medical history. But these records also make a patient’s entire medical record – including records about sensitive health care – available to all providers with access to the system, even across state lines. As other states criminalize abortion and gender affirming care, as patients face increased stigma, and as the Trump administration and federal litigation erode the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s privacy protections, this automatic sharing can put patients and providers at risk of discrimination and criminalization.

S.1633 / A.2613 would require electronic health record companies to create the ability to segment electronic health records and suppress sensitive health information at a patient’s direction, enabling patients to reap the benefits of electronic health records without risking information about sensitive health care being shared and used against them.