OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – Hundreds of Oklahoma medical protesters marched from demonstrators on Saturday. Oklahoma Department of Health building to Oklahoma State Capitol To fight for mental health privacy.
If the new bill is passed, it will come into force on July 1stst In addition, all healthcare providers are required to enter patient records into an online database.
Many of Saturday’s protesters argued it was a violation of patient rights and privacy.
March is coming in less than a week oklahoma health care authority The Board of Directors will hold a final vote on the new legislation.
“The impact of that on our patients and clients is that they have less privacy protection. They have less ability to protect their mental health records. We just want people to understand that it’s more private than regular medical records,” said Sabrina DeQuasie, a privacy provider in Oklahoma.
Organizers of Saturday’s protest said they hoped through the march to bring awareness to patients and clients about how this affects their privacy.
“Many people don’t realize there are rules in place that separate it from your medical record…but it will even change the way providers deliver their services. We have to give the state information that we feel it is, and it shouldn’t give the state any rights,” said DeQuasie.
Protesters also said they feared this would push health care providers out of the scene.
“This is a mandatory requirement and we have to do this…the state is not involved in their health care. And they’re saying they’ll use it for demographic information, etc. And I think it’s going to be really harmful for people who need counseling,” said a protester. Carla, a healthcare worker, said.
on the other hand, Oklahoma Department of Health Care Secretary of State Kevin Corbett said the new law opens up new avenues for healthcare.
“We believe this will add to the coordination of care, better treatment and better information flow,” said Secretary Kevin Corbett. Oklahoma Department of Health
Corbett also wanted to reassure everyone that there was “very strict access” in terms of who could see the database.
“As you can imagine, this data has tight security in place. It’s personal health information that we all want to make sure we all have a responsibility to protect,” Corbett said.
of Oka The Board will hold a final vote on Wednesday, March 22nd.nd KFOR will deliver the results at 2pm.
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