Our Data Ourselves

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has important medical privacy mandates which in theory should allow for increased "liquidity" of our own healthcare data. That is, it should allow patients to request an electronic copy of their record where there is one to be had. Specifically (thanks to AMIA for a very useful summary):

Privacy –Title XIII Subtitle D

•Sec. 13405

Provides individuals the right to obtain from a covered entity using an EHR a copy of their information in electronic format, allowing the individual to designate a 3rdparty, such as a PHR, to receive a copy

This has been a long time coming and it is a welcome development. It should further stimulate an industry working on the personal use of such data.