Senators press telehealth companies on data-sharing practices

Photo: Aekkarak Thongjiew EyeEm/Getty Images

A bipartisan group of four U.S. Senators are leaning on three telehealth companies for more information about their data-sharing practices, calling on these companies to protect patients' sensitive health data.

The senators – Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Susan Collins (R-Me.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) – expressed their concern over reports that these online health companies are tracking and sharing their customers' personally identifiable health data with social media platforms for advertising purposes.

These reports come despite company promises to prospective patients that their user data, including information about mental health and addiction treatment, will remain confidential, the senators said.

Telehealth companies Monument, Workit Health and Cerebral all received letters from the group of senators, and each was requested to provide the complete list of questions users may be asked on the platform.

"Recent reports highlight how your company shares users' contact information and health care data that should be confidential," the senators wrote to the companies' CEOs. "(T)his information is reportedly sent to advertising platforms, along with the information needed to identify users. This data is extremely personal, and it can be used to target advertisements for services that may be unnecessary or potentially harmful physically, psychologically, or emotionally.

"Telehealth … has become a popular and effective way for many Americans to receive care," they wrote. "One fifth of the U.S. population resides in rural or medically-underserved communities where access to virtual care is vital. This access should not come at the cost of exposing personal and identifiable information to the world's largest advertising ecosystems."

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

In addition to asking for the questions posed on each company's platform, the senators requested a list of third-party platforms to which they send tracked user information that can be associated with a single user, regardless of whether the information is hashed or otherwise protected.

They also pressed the telehealth companies to provide clear, easy-to-understand, plain language information to patients about which personal information they do and do not keep confidential.

Specific to Cerebral, the senators alleged the company was still collecting personally identifiable information as of December 7, 2022, despite a statement on November 30 saying that it would prevent such information from being collected by Meta Pixel. The lawmakers pressed Cerebral for documentation on whether they had corrected this.

THE LARGER TREND

Klobuchar is chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights. 

Last August, she and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) introduced legislation to ban the use of Americans' personal health data for commercial advertising. The Stop Commercial Use of Health Data Act would restrict companies from profiting off of personally identifiable health data for advertising purposes.

Last May, Klobuchar and Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) urged the Federal Trade Commission to protect the data privacy of women seeking reproductive healthcare.

Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com