Recent testimony before the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed the steps the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is taking to ensure that privacy protection is part of a national HIT strategy. The report also identified challenges associated with protecting electronic health information within a nationwide health information network. Recommendations included defining and implementing an overall privacy approach that identified milestones and ensured key privacy principles were addressed.

The complete report is available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07988t.pdf.