Hospital website trackers ubiquitous, privacy policies less so

Fierce Healthcare April 12, 2024
Dave Muoio

Nearly all hospitals’ websites collect and transmit user information to third parties, yet most do not have privacy policies that tell the visitors who exactly will be receiving that data, according to a new JAMA Network Open study.

Across a representative sample of 100 non-federal acute care hospitals reviewed from November to January, researchers found that 96 of their websites transmit user information to third parties, per data published by the journal Thursday.

Seventy-one websites had privacy policies that largely disclosed the types of user information being collected (97.2%), how the information was being used (98.6%) and what types of third-parties would be receiving it (93%). However, only 40 hospital websites named specific third-parties or services that would be receiving...

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