U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on Nov. 14 unveiled bipartisan legislation to prohibit the transfer or sale of consumer health information stored on wearable personal devices.
Sen. Cassidy introduced the Stop Marketing and Revealing the Wearables and Trackers Consumer Health (Smartwatch) Data Act, with U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV), which would prevent data mining of Americans’ personal health data stored on wearable personal devices, such as smartwatches, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmakers.
“The Smartwatch Act prevents big tech data harvesters from collecting intimate private data without patients’ consent,” Sen. Cassidy said. “Americans should always know their health information is secure.”
Sen. Cassidy’s office said the legislation was introduced amid reports on how Google and other companies could potentially gain access to private health data collected from smart device users.
The bill would protect all interactions between patients and their doctors, particularly since the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) does not provide such protections to health data recorded on personal devices, according to the summary.
The Smartwatch Data Act would define what data is protected under the law and would prevent entities that collect consumer health information from transferring, selling, sharing or allowing access to consumer health information or any individually identifiable consumer health information collected on personal health trackers, according to the bill’s text.
Violations under the bill would be enforced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which also enforces HIPAA.
“This commonsense, bipartisan legislation will extend existing health care privacy protections to personal health data collected by apps and wearables, preventing this data from being sold or used commercially without the consumer’s consent,” said Sen. Rosen.