Telehealth Security in the post-Roe Era of Healthcare
How to optimize your safety and access to medical care online, now that big tech and anti-abortion politicians/lobbyists work together to buy, sell and prosecute your medical decisions.
As a NYC therapist who has been providing telehealth online mental health care since 2017, over the last six months I have taken extra precautions to ensure no client interactions, whether coaching or traditional psychotherapy, have the ability to leak data that one’s state or country could use to determine fertility, birth control history, family planning, sexual abuse history, marital status or health status.
The sessions that followed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the historical precedent that existed for 49 years, were heartbreaking.
Women, trans adults and all people able to become pregnant were again faced with the fear of having to carry and deliver a child they did not consent to conceive, had not planned, could not afford, could not care for medically, or could end their life. People with a history of incest, horrified at the thought of being forced to raise a product of their rape and familial abuse.
People using hormonal birth control for reasons other than pregnancy prevention are losing the right to prescription medication that treats conditions such as: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis, Dysmenorrhea, Skin and Hair conditions, as well as decreasing the chance of anemia, uterine and ovarian cancer.
If you have one of these conditions and feel increasing anxiety about your access to qualified non-partisan healthcare, you are not alone. I’d love to work together to unpack the challenges you’re having accessing the kind of care you need, as well as reducing anxiety, depression and understandable frustration you’re feeling.
Tips for protecting yourself and limiting how your data is used:
Ensure your medical providers are using encrypted electronic health record systems and secure communication methods between sessions.
Opt out of personalized ads and cross-tracking apps.
Disable your mobile advertising ID whether you’re an apple or android user.
Check your app permissions and limit what information you allow them to track. Period tracking apps from FitBit to smaller companies may be forced to overturn data in the way Nebraska Police retrieved personal Facebook messages between a mother and daughter discussing instructions of the abortion pill.
Be weary of “mental health apps” such as Betterhelp and Talkspace. In a previous post I mentioned the many lawsuits and unethical business practices of Betterhelp. You can easily search the latest scandals and misuse of information harming people in need of mental health services and creating more stigma around therapy after such negative experiences. These huge corporations with strong legal teams and capital, make the individual therapists and group practices near invisible, tricking new graduates and burnt-out clinicians with sign-on bonuses, only to provide rates that no one can live on, especially if you still have student loans.
I could go on about this for DAYS and many therapists on TikTok and Instagram HAVE! Blowing the whistle on harmful business practices, breached client confidentiality and the selling of customer information to third parties like Facebook and Google. Senators Warren, Booker and 40 other congresspeople wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission in June 2022 to hold these companies accountable and protect the public during a mental health crisis and criminalization of safe, accessible healthcare.
The beauty of being a clinician in 2022 is that I get to network and build community with mental health providers all over NY state, the US and the world. One thing I can tell you about us is that we are diligent, passionate and sometimes anxiously hyperfocused on your privacy, because trust is the foundation on which all other work takes place. Honesty and awareness are crucial for preventing exploitation of the field and all those hoping to benefit from it.
