![]() ![]() NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. SIMON: Geoffrey Fowler, technology columnist at The Washington Post, thanks so much.Ĭopyright © 2023 NPR. So that's why I think it's worth raising the alarm. That said, the language that they use and the authorization, it is worryingly vague and gives Amazon a lot of potential power to do stuff with our data in the future. It is merely a marketplace for doctors, and it wants this data so that it can better serve its customers. SIMON: When you contacted Amazon, what did they say about your reporting?įOWLER: Amazon says that it only needs this authorization because of a peculiarity about its role in the health care process, that it is not the doctor itself. The other question here is - and this is one that would be in front of an organization like the Federal Trade Commission - you know, are consumers really informed about what they're doing in this case? Is Amazon essentially misleading people and making them think that - you know, that they are covered by HIPAA? I mean, their website for Amazon Clinic makes lots of promises about HIPAA, but then asks you to sign a document that says you're no longer covered by HIPAA. So that hardly seems like a comparable service offering. So I tried to do that, and getting the exact same treatment that normally would have cost me 30 bucks through Amazon Clinic was going to be over a hundred going directly. Instead, they tell you, here's some contact information for clinics that are our partners, and they'll treat you if you arrange it directly. In this case, Amazon says if you don't click that agree button, you can't really become their customer. First of all, the law says you are not allowed to ask somebody to sign away their HIPAA rights as a requirement of getting service. There are two issues, really, that could come up. SIMON: Is this legal, what Amazon is doing?įOWLER: When I talked to lawyers and privacy advocates, they said it's up for debate. But I am the tech columnist at the Post, and I review all tech with the same critical eye. I believe they have a small relationship with The Washington Post, too.įOWLER: The Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who is the founder of Amazon. ![]() SIMON: We should, of course, note that Amazon is among NPR's underwriters. So there's a lot of potential uses for our data, which are usually off limits to health care providers. It could take our data and analyze it and try to predict risk scores about different kinds of people. It's increasingly getting into artificial intelligence. Amazon also has other kinds of health care businesses it wants to get into. It has a really big advertising business that we don't talk a lot about. So, for example, Amazon has a giant retail business. Part of the problem here is Amazon's language about what it is doing with this data and why it wants it is extremely vague. SIMON: I gather they said it indicated your information, quote, "may be re-disclosed." What does that mean?įOWLER: It means that Amazon is essentially grabbing the right to take your data and give it to itself and then do we don't know exactly what with.įOWLER: Possibly, yeah. And that really should raise the eyebrows of anybody who wants to understand what big tech is doing getting into health care. What Amazon is asking patients to do is to essentially give up some of their federally protected privacy rights. And I think a lot of listeners, anybody who's been to a doctor's office in the last couple of decades, might think, oh, yes, yes, HIPAA, that's normal. At the top, it says, a HIPAA authorization. And there's a whole bunch of legalese that you're agreeing to there. What did you find out?įOWLER: Before you're allowed to officially become a patient of Amazon Clinic, they make you click one of those little buttons that says continue or I agree. ![]() But as Geoffrey Fowler reported this week in The Washington Post, the service called Amazon Clinic comes with a hidden cost - your privacy. ![]() Amazon launched a low-cost health care service last year to provide virtual care for more than 20 common health conditions including allergies or acne. ![]()
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