Your privacy will soon be at an even higher risk. With the HITECH act that was part of ARRA, hospitals must meet different levels of meaningful use, or they will be penalized through reduced Medicare and Medicaid payments. As part of that, it was mandated that all covered entities participate in a Health Information Exchange, or HIE. This means that your information, without your permission, will have to be sent to the HIE, and participating organizations will have access to your information at will.

At this point, there's no good way to lock that information down. Luckily, you can't participate in an HIE if there's not one, and there are very few out there right now. Hopefully, they will get the kinks worked out, but don't hold your breath.