Federal officials sent a letter to hospitals and telehealth providers over concerns about the privacy and security of online telehealth services.
The agencies sent nearly 130 health care providers a letter warning of the risks. They specifically warned about using services such as Meta/Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics. Federal officials claim these services can gather identifiable personal information about users. "Impermissible disclosures of an individual’s personal health information to third parties may result in a wide range of harms to an individual or others," the letter read."Such disclosures can reveal sensitive information, including health conditions, diagnoses, medications, medical treatments, frequency of visits to health care professionals, where an individual seeks medical treatment, and more.