The Health and Human Services Department got mixed reviews for its decision to insist that the next iteration of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) allow patients to control who sees their electronic health records on the network.

Dr. Robert Kolodner, national coordinator of health information technology, said recently that trial networks funded by his office should give "people the capability to decide how they view, store and control access to their own information. A person could say how that information flows to specific entities or completely block the flow of information."