So I was pleased to see a new report this week from The Bipartisan Policy Center hammer home the importance of gaining public trust (see: Report Calls for EHR Privacy Action). See Also: Live Webinar | Unmasking Pegasus: Understand the Threat & Strengthen Your Digital Defense Will that prove to be a smart investment? Not if the public lacks trust that their digitized medical information will remain private. I travel internationally only a couple of times a year, if that, but I was glad to have the fast-access stamp of approval after hearing some stories about long lines in some airports as travelers tried to get back into the U.S.Thanks to the HITECH Act, the federal government may spend as much as $30 billion to boost electronic health records and health information exchange. In fact, since I received my Global Entry card in June, TSA has said it will roll out a program that offers expedited screening for $85, which makes sense if most of your travel is domestic and if you’re not an elite traveler who is going to be invited to PreCheck by your favored airline.īut then you’d miss out on the expedited immigration process. The PreCheck pass is really just an added bonus to Global Entry. Or, said another way, if you’re flying Southwest, JetBlue or any of the other budget airlines, you’ll be hanging with hoi polloi. ) The TSA website says Alaska, American, Delta, Hawaiian, United, US Airways and Virgin America participate in the program. (Signs in the airport say Buffalo will soon join the 40 other airports that have the program you can see the list at. When we returned from our trip, I was ready for a repeat, but Buffalo, alas, doesn’t yet have PreCheck. For leisure travelers, it’s rare that “entitled” and “airline traveler” are uttered in the same sentence, so I savored it. I paid my money (The Times did not pay my $100 tab), did the paperwork and went through the interview before receiving my OK in June. And, truth to tell, I felt no guilt watching him struggle with his shoes and his liquids. This cast of characters included the hubs, for whom having Trusted Traveler status doesn’t make financial sense. After my zip through, I stood and watched the non-PreCheckers who were doing the security line striptease. My boarding pass was stamped with PreCheck privileges, which gave me access to life in the fast lane. My first expedited screening was on a recent flight to upstate New York. (You’re probably saying, “Excuse me, but you’ve just done that,” to which I would reply, “Yes, but you’re a reader, and I’ve shared by choice, not chance.”) This doesn’t mean you can carry a quart of gin through security - your liquids are still limited to no more than 3.4 ounces - but it does mean you don’t have to advertise to the world that you use Dermalogica Ultracalming Cleanser and Sensodyne toothpaste. It also includes a PreCheck component if you’re flying from an airport that is part of the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck program, Global Entry also lets you (usually) go through the security screening without removing your jacket, shoes, belt, laptop or your liquids. If you’re returning to the U.S., you don’t have to wait in line to see a human in immigration or customs. Global Entry, which gives you Trusted Traveler status if you’re approved, costs $100 for the airport equivalent of a five-year hall pass. It saved me time and significantly reduced my going-on-a-trip stress. In these days of governmental shutdowns and bipartisan squabbling, this Trusted Traveler program worked exactly right. Here’s the most amazing thing that happened the first time I used Global Entry for getting back into the country and speeding through security: nothing.
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