Police and researchers have provisions to request access to the database under HIPAA
The Harvard researcher probably fell under research for public health. I'd hope private researchers can access public health data. The goal for "ICD" global standardized diagnoses codes is to help research.
There are rules for distribution and compliance that should carry over to each handler of the data sets.
Given all that, I still have anxiety of bad actors handling the private information.
It's not as cut and dry as that, apparently. From that BusinessWeek article:
>Washington State’s health agency sold its database 95 times that year, collecting a mere $15,950. Donn Moyer, a spokesman for the state’s health department, says it chose to release extra identifying information such as patients’ Zip Codes to make its data more useful.
The Harvard researcher's point is that it's possible to identify individuals in the datasets being sold in some scenarios.
The Harvard researcher probably fell under research for public health. I'd hope private researchers can access public health data. The goal for "ICD" global standardized diagnoses codes is to help research.
There are rules for distribution and compliance that should carry over to each handler of the data sets.
Given all that, I still have anxiety of bad actors handling the private information.