Podcast (but not mine): I discuss ACA, HIPAA, consumerism in healthcare

Longtime readers know how I’ve railed against how the mainstream media’s coverage of healthcare reform in general and the Affordable Care Act in particular, notably the fact that Obamacare addresses a lot more than just insurance coverage. I’ve also railed against how hospitals have used HIPAA as an excuse not to give patients copies of their medical records, when, in fact, the privacy rule says the exact opposite, something HHS finally saw need to provide guidance on just this month.

Those of you who have followed me to MedCity News know that I’ve also been covering the Get My Health Data effort since the beginning last summer — and its roots in the HHS decision to water down “patient engagement” requirements in the Meaningful Use EHR incentive program nearly a year ago.

With this in mind, I knew exactly what I was going to talk about when an old college friend, Missouri lawyer and published novelist Dale Wiley, asked me to be one of the first guests on his new podcast, the Dale Wiley Show. We talked for a good half hour, and probably could have gone on for longer, and I am especially grateful he let me talk about multiple system atrophy, the rare disease that took my dad’s life in 2012.

I do have to take Dale to task for picking a photo of me with my face bandaged from my injury at the 2011 HIMSS conference. He told me he picked more for pixel size than for aesthetic quality. Ah, well. I’m probably due for a new professional headshot anyway.

Click here for the iTunes link to the Dale Wiley Show. Music fans will especially like it, as Dale formerly ran an indie record label and knows a lot of people in the business.