This is a republication of the article below, with the title above. Independently of positions for or against the new legislation, the purpose here is to give one example of how personal data can be exposed by a change in legislation.
Health tech companies are scrambling to close data privacy gaps after abortion ruling
StatNews
By Katie Palmer and Casey Ross
July 2, 2022 , nbcnews
In the wake of the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, reproductive health data in medical records is vulnerable to legal requests in states that have criminalized abortion, or will soon.
But there are even fewer protections in place for the digital footprints left outside the doctor’s office — and health tech companies are grappling with what to do about it.
“If I were in the reproductive health business, I would absolutely be rethinking my platform and how it worked,” said Lucia Savage, chief privacy and regulatory officer at Omada Health.
“If I were in the reproductive health business, I would absolutely be rethinking my platform and how it worked,” (Lucia Savage)
STAT reached out to two dozen companies that interact with user data about menstrual cycles, fertility, pregnancy and abortion to ask about their current data practices and plans to adapt.
The emerging landscape is one of companies trying to transform — forming legal teams, racing to develop new privacy-preserving products and aiming to communicate more clearly about how they manage and care for data in the face of a swirling distrust of digital health tools. .
Period-tracking apps have been the target of the loudest calls for privacy and the most visible corporate responses.
At least two cycle-tracking apps now make anonymous versions: Natural Cycles, whose product is approved by the Food and Drug Administration as a form of birth control, said it had calls to exchange ideas with Flo, which developed the anonymous version. its application.
Originally published at https://www.statnews.com on July 2, 2022.
Names mentioned
Lucia Savage, chief privacy and regulatory officer at Omada Health.
