Dr. David Blumenthal, national coordinator for health information technology, has strongly denied any plans to develop a national network that would transmit patients’ medical information to the Justice and Homeland Security departments…

…Rather than defusing concerns, privacy advocates said Blumenthal’s remarks only heightened questions about what role NIEM standards, and the law enforcement agencies that developed them, will play in a national health information network.

Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, said she believes Blumenthal is well-intentioned in his aim to ensure patient information is not transmitted to law enforcement or intelligence agencies. But promises do not have the force of law, she noted.