Privacy rules issued by the US government
Privacy rules issued by the US government
Wed, 20 Dec 2000 22:09:57
New York, NY - President Bill Clinton plans to issue sweeping new rules on December 20, 2000 to maintain the privacy of patient medical records, according to media reports. The federal rules, which will take full effect within 2 years, aim to limit the information doctors, hospitals, and health plans may reveal without patient consent, and cover both electronic and paper records and oral communications, as well as routine disclosure of information. The New York Times points out that the rules "will apply to statements made over the telephone by someone who works in a doctor's office, regardless of whether the information is recorded in a patient's file."
We have tried for years and years to get these protections, and we have been unsuccessful until now. This is just a huge victory.
The new regulations "are the product of years of often contentious debate among the administration, Congress, the health care industry, and consumer and privacy advocates over the extent to which private medical records should be protected. In issuing the new protections, the administration is tackling the thorny issue of how to address technological innovations that have made it much easier for companies to analyze and distribute private medical information that once remained a secret between patients and their physicians. While health care officials argue they need the reservoir of information to provide more efficient and affordable services, there has been growing concern among people about their employers and others gaining access to their records," according to the Washington Post.
USA Today summarizes the new rules:
Patients must provide their permission to release medical information, and when they visit a doctor or sign up with a health plan, they will be asked to provide written consent for routine use of their records, including medical treatment and billing
Patients must provide special permission for nonroutine uses of information, which includes marketers seeking patient lists and employers checking on job applicants
Patients must know how their information will be used and who will use it
For the first time, Americans in all 50 states will be able to view, copy, and amend their records
Violators of the rules, including doctors, health plans, hospitals, and employers, face penalties of up to $250000 in fines and 10-year prison terms for selling supposedly private information
"This will touch nearly every aspect of health care. We have tried for years and years to get these protections, and we have been unsuccessful until now. This is just a huge victory," Janlori Goldman (Director of the Health Privacy Project, Georgetown University, Washington, DC) told the Associated Press (AP).
"The president believes these long overdue rules will respond to changes in the health care delivery system and increase public confidence in the system's ability to maintain confidentiality," says Chris Jennings, a senior Clinton adviser on health policy, in a Reuters report. The Los Angeles Times reports that the president will also ask for additional legislation allowing consumers to sue providers who violate the medical confidentiality rules and requiring life insurers and worker compensation programs to protect patients' records.
The LA Times says that many doctors worked hard to ensure the broad protections and were "enthusiastic" about the new rules. The New York Times adds, "Doctors will have discretion in deciding how much information to disclose to another health care provider treating the same patient. The premise here is that doctors need most or all of a patient's record to provide appropriate care."
What price privacy?
"However, hospitals, insurers and HMOs said there are potential problems with the new rules. Although they had not yet seen the final regulations, they worried that it would cost them billions of dollars to adjust their practices to ensure compliance. Particularly troublesome, they said, is a provision requiring that only the minimum patient information be transferred from files for the purposes of payment or other health care operations. A second concern is that health care plans and providers must require that any entities they contract with that view patient information be bound by the same rules," according to the Los Angeles Times.
Without uniformity, the regulations are going to cause more, not less, confusion.
Although the health industry supports the idea of improving medical privacy, its advocates are concerned that the new rules will allow states to apply even stricter standards. "Without uniformity, the regulations are going to cause more, not less, confusion," Chip Kahn (President, Health Insurance Association of America) told AP, which adds that other industry officials argue that insisting on patient consent "might prevent doctors and insurers from trading information needed to ensure quality health care." Kristin Stewart, who has been tracking this issue for the American Association of Health Plans says: "The problem is when the person refuses to give consent."
Of course, President-elect George W Bush might not take up the Clinton initiative once he occupies the White House, but several media sources suggest that Bush would not oppose the new privacy rules, particularly since part of his campaign platform was to protect medical privacy.
New York, NY - President Bill Clinton plans to issue sweeping new rules on December 20, 2000 to maintain the privacy of patient medical records, according to media reports. The federal rules, which will take full effect within 2 years, aim to limit the information doctors, hospitals, and health plans may reveal without patient consent, and cover both electronic and paper records and oral communications, as well as routine disclosure of information. The New York Times points out that the rules "will apply to statements made over the telephone by someone who works in a doctor's office, regardless of whether the information is recorded in a patient's file."
We have tried for years and years to get these protections, and we have been unsuccessful until now. This is just a huge victory.
The new regulations "are the product of years of often contentious debate among the administration, Congress, the health care industry, and consumer and privacy advocates over the extent to which private medical records should be protected. In issuing the new protections, the administration is tackling the thorny issue of how to address technological innovations that have made it much easier for companies to analyze and distribute private medical information that once remained a secret between patients and their physicians. While health care officials argue they need the reservoir of information to provide more efficient and affordable services, there has been growing concern among people about their employers and others gaining access to their records," according to the Washington Post.
USA Today summarizes the new rules:
Patients must provide their permission to release medical information, and when they visit a doctor or sign up with a health plan, they will be asked to provide written consent for routine use of their records, including medical treatment and billing
Patients must provide special permission for nonroutine uses of information, which includes marketers seeking patient lists and employers checking on job applicants
Patients must know how their information will be used and who will use it
For the first time, Americans in all 50 states will be able to view, copy, and amend their records
Violators of the rules, including doctors, health plans, hospitals, and employers, face penalties of up to $250000 in fines and 10-year prison terms for selling supposedly private information
"This will touch nearly every aspect of health care. We have tried for years and years to get these protections, and we have been unsuccessful until now. This is just a huge victory," Janlori Goldman (Director of the Health Privacy Project, Georgetown University, Washington, DC) told the Associated Press (AP).
"The president believes these long overdue rules will respond to changes in the health care delivery system and increase public confidence in the system's ability to maintain confidentiality," says Chris Jennings, a senior Clinton adviser on health policy, in a Reuters report. The Los Angeles Times reports that the president will also ask for additional legislation allowing consumers to sue providers who violate the medical confidentiality rules and requiring life insurers and worker compensation programs to protect patients' records.
The LA Times says that many doctors worked hard to ensure the broad protections and were "enthusiastic" about the new rules. The New York Times adds, "Doctors will have discretion in deciding how much information to disclose to another health care provider treating the same patient. The premise here is that doctors need most or all of a patient's record to provide appropriate care."
What price privacy?
"However, hospitals, insurers and HMOs said there are potential problems with the new rules. Although they had not yet seen the final regulations, they worried that it would cost them billions of dollars to adjust their practices to ensure compliance. Particularly troublesome, they said, is a provision requiring that only the minimum patient information be transferred from files for the purposes of payment or other health care operations. A second concern is that health care plans and providers must require that any entities they contract with that view patient information be bound by the same rules," according to the Los Angeles Times.
Without uniformity, the regulations are going to cause more, not less, confusion.
Although the health industry supports the idea of improving medical privacy, its advocates are concerned that the new rules will allow states to apply even stricter standards. "Without uniformity, the regulations are going to cause more, not less, confusion," Chip Kahn (President, Health Insurance Association of America) told AP, which adds that other industry officials argue that insisting on patient consent "might prevent doctors and insurers from trading information needed to ensure quality health care." Kristin Stewart, who has been tracking this issue for the American Association of Health Plans says: "The problem is when the person refuses to give consent."
Of course, President-elect George W Bush might not take up the Clinton initiative once he occupies the White House, but several media sources suggest that Bush would not oppose the new privacy rules, particularly since part of his campaign platform was to protect medical privacy.
|
Source...