GROUPS oppose renewed federal plans to amass millions of workers’ health data, arguing the proposal would enable a wholesale collection of vast amounts of granular data from health plans covering more than 8 million federal workers, including USPS employees in the standalone Postal Service Health Benefits Programme.
CVS Health—owner of Aetna—is among firms and organisations voicing concerns, with CVS and other commenters, including the Association of Federal Health Organizations (AFHO), saying the plan raises significant HIPAA privacy and security rule compliance concerns. AFHO noted its members cover approximately 90% of FEHB and PSHB enrollees and family members.
As of 10 March, the Office of Personnel Management had posted six comments in response to its December 12 Federal Register notice seeking feedback on the plan to collect “service use and cost data” from FEHB and PSHB carriers, including medical claims, pharmacy claims, encounter data and provider data, according to Theresa Defino of the Health Care Compliance Association. The article frames these positions as a response to a renewed attempt by OPM to pursue the data collection. According to Health Care Compliance Association.