“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“HIPAA.”
“HIPAA, who?”
“I’m sorry, but I cannot disclose that.”
Clinicians and patients alike will laugh at this, but behind the laughter are anger and frustration. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), a law created to protect patients, has borne with it serious obstacles to effective care. How did this happen? What went wrong on the road to protecting privacy?