Abstract from the article titled, "Before Using Birth Control Apps Consider Your Privacy" posted on Wired.com: "Natural Cycles’ privacy policy states that in using the app each user grants the company and any of its partners broad rights to “use, reproduce, distribute, modify, adapt, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, communicate to the public, and otherwise utilize and exploit a user's anonymized information.”

The internet has made DNA testing a big global business. In the United States and Europe, millions of people have sent samples of their saliva to commercial labs in the hopes of learning something new about their personal health or lineage. Ancestry.com, 23andMe, MyHeritage, and FamilyTreeDNA are all industry leaders that sell their services online, share test results on websites, and even provide guides on how to find relatives in phone directories or share results on social media. They frequently claim ownership of your genetic information and sell access to their databases to large pharmaceutical and medical technology firms.

High blood pressure (BP) that is uncontrolled is the major cause of mortality and disability. For the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, reliable blood pressure measurement is critical. If the BP measurement instrument has been validated for clinical accuracy, that is a crucial aspect of correct measurement.

According to a survey from The Pew Charitable Trusts, 81%t of adults surveyed favor improved patient and provider access to health information. More than two-thirds of consumers want their clinicians to share health information that isn't presently required by federal data-sharing policies (Trust, 2021).

An article posted in the Journal of the American Medical Association identified that some of the highest-ranking health apps used to assist people with mental health conditions (e.g. depression) and smoking cessation were sharing data with Facebook and Google services and that only a third disclosed such practices.

This is based on an article from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). CISA is the Nation’s risk advisor, working with partners to defend against today’s threats and collaborating to build a more secure and resilient infrastructure for the future. CISA provides extensive cybersecurity and infrastructure security knowledge which can assist people in applying better personal health information risk management. 

In this article, CISA explains risks associated with mobile device apps and some preventive methods that can be used to better secure your personal information.

From the HHS Office for Civil Rights website: Ask your doctor. You have the right to see and get copies of your health information - PDF. In most cases, you can get a copy the way you want it, such as by e-mail. While your doctor normally has up to 30 days to provide you a copy of your information, your doctor often can provide the information much sooner than that. If your doctor offers a web portal, you may be able to easily view and download your health information whenever you want.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning health care providers and people with diabetes of risks associated with use of devices for diabetes management unauthorized for sale in the U.S., whether used alone or along with other devices. These unauthorized diabetes management devices have not been reviewed by the FDA to ensure they provide a reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness for their intended use. Use of unauthorized devices could result in inaccurate glucose level readings or unsafe insulin dosing, which can lead to injury requiring medical intervention or death.

As Hurricane Florence makes landfall, the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and its federal partners remain in close coordination to help ensure that emergency officials effectively address the needs of at-risk populations as part of disaster response. If you believe that a person or organization covered by the Privacy and Security Rules (a "covered entity") violated your health information privacy rights or otherwise violated the Privacy or Security Rules, you may file a complaint with OCR. For additional information about how to file a complaint, visit OCR's web page on filing complaints at http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/complaints/index.html.

SUBJECTIVE: Abstract from the article titled, "Wearable Are Totally Failing The People Who Need Them Most" posted on Wired Magazine: "As the Internet of Things becomes an actual thing, more steps are being counted, more sleep patterns are being logged, more activities are being appified. What isn’t appearing in the data is much common sense or ambition. Instead, developers continue flocking to a saturated market filled with hipster pet rocks, devices that gather reams of largely superficial information for young people whose health isn’t in question, or at risk."