FTC Approves Final Settlement Against Cloud-Based Health Records Platform Provider

The FTC has approved a final settlement against Practice Fusion, Inc., a company that describes itself as the "number one cloud-based electronic health record platform for doctors and patients." The FTC had alleged that Practice Fusion failed to adequately disclose that patient responses to an online healthcare provider satisfaction survey would be published on Practice Fusion's public website.

According to the FTC's complaint, problems arose in 2013 when Practice Fusion began planning for the launch of an online public-facing healthcare provider directory to supplement its core health record platform. The directory was intended to allow current or prospective patients to search for healthcare providers by provider specialty or location, and to read existing patient reviews for those providers. The problem, according to the FTC, was that the patient reviews made available on the directory contained sensitive patient information, and were obtained without adequate