The Department of HHS today released its long-awaited guidelines on health privacy surrounding non-traditional technologies like Fitbits. While health law professionals may understand the limitations of health privacy as it pertains to charts and apps, it seems patients do not.

Charles Ornstein has it pulled together over at ProPublica. You can download the original HHS report here. Charles’ most damning quote:

Companies that make trackers and apps “are not obligated by a statute or regulation to provide individuals with access to data about themselves.”

(Arm outstretched. drops mike)

Between the lines you’ll see a recurring theme playing out in digital health: technology is advancing faster than our operational oversight can keep up. Ditto for medical education. Medicine is accelerating faster than our medical schools and education regulation can adapt.

When our 20th century systems fails to guide us, we adapt in our own ways and by our own rules.

Image via Flickr/Keoni Cabral