Privacy guru knocks patient ID as ploy

Bill Spooner, Senior VP and CIO of Sharp HealthCare, called for a national patient identification system, stating that privacy advocates are the main opponents. However, Adrian Gropper, CTO of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, argued that a national patient ID is a ploy by healthcare providers, insurance companies, and health IT vendors to protect revenue. Gropper suggested that patients should have the power to specify how they want to be identified. He also criticized the lack of transparency in pricing and access to medical records.