The proposed Department of Health and Human Services budget for fiscal 2011 includes funding related to health IT's potential impact on privacy, InformationWeek reports. In addition to requests for $32 million toward the implementation of the national electronic medical records database, the budget proposes $1.6 million for the Office of Civil Rights to fund regional privacy advisors and $1 million for an independent evaluation of the adoption of health IT. The budget brief also includes $4 million in funding to be used to identify consumer perspectives on e-health tools, support state implementation of HITECH grants and "anticipate and mitigate unintended consequences of the electronic exchange of health information."
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