NewsMax.com Wires
Wednesday, March 21, 2001

WASHINGTON (UPI) – Congressional Democrats on Tuesday urged Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson not to delay implementation of patient "privacy" regulations crafted during the Clinton administration.

Sens. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., with Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., Ed Markey, D-Mass., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and 38 other lawmakers sent a letter to Thompson expressing concern over his decision to open a new 30-day comment period on the final standards mandated by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

"This long-overdue regulation establishes for the first time a fundamental right to medical privacy. This new standard includes access to one's own medical records, a requirement of notice on how health information is going to be used and shared, a requirement for consent for use and disclosure, and limitations on employer access to personal health information," the lawmakers wrote.

"We strongly urge you to hold the line on medical privacy by allowing the regulations to take effect on April 14th," the letter said. "Americans have waited too long for these critical privacy protections – they shouldn't have to wait any longer."

Others joined with the legislators in expressing their concern that a delay in the rules suggests that the Bush administration might be reconsidering their implementation, at the behest of insurance and employer groups.

"As you know, the privacy regulation was issued following a lengthy and thorough rulemaking process that incorporated over 50,000 comments and nearly a half year of fact-finding to craft the final regulation," said Janlori Goldman, director of Health Privacy Project at Georgetown University.

"A lack of privacy has led people to withdraw from full participation in their own health care, which affects not only the care they receive but the accuracy and integrity of the information that moves through our nation's health care system," she said.

Kennedy said that the need for the rules was clear.

"Most Americans would be outraged to hear that a [medical privacy] regulation is just sitting there," he said. "HHS worked long and hard to get these regulations right."

In the past, most Americans thought that their medical records were locked away, but this is no longer the case, said Rep. Markey.

"This is an indispensable right for all Americans, an island of protection in this age of electronic profiling," he said. "Until you have a medical record you have no privacy problem."

In December, Bill Clinton and the nation's top health officials unveiled broad privacy protections which, for the first time, restricted release of patients' medical histories. The rules limited doctors, hospitals and insurance companies from sharing confidential patient information. Previously there had been no federal law protecting medical privacy, even with concerns about computer access and the Internet.

The Consent Form

The rules would require a one-time consent form to be signed by patients on their first visit to a doctor, allowing disclosures for billing and treatment, but patients would have to explicitly consent to any other use of the information.

In addition, patients would have to be told how the information is being used and by whom. The health industry supports the notion of improved medical privacy, but worries because the rule allows states to write even stricter standards than the new HHS rules.

Experts have estimated that the rules might cost the health care industry and employers about $17.6 billion over 10 years, but an estimated $30 billion in savings would come from companion rules that would eliminate paperwork and allow electronic filing of insurance claims. Unintentional disclosure of information under the rules would carry a civil penalty of $100 a violation, up to $25,000 a year. Intentional disclosure would carry criminal sanctions of up to $50,000 and up to a year in prison. Any intentional sale of medical information would be punishable by up to $250,000 in fines and 10 years in prison under the rules.

"The new administration is trying to make this a partisan issue by allowing the medical privacy rules to become a bazaar," said Markey. "There should be no more delays, no backtracking."

Health and Human Services Secretary Thompson had no immediate response to the letter, but a spokesman said that he stands by his earlier statement that more comments are needed before the rules – or any medical privacy protections – are put in place.

Copyright 2001 by United Press International. All rights reserved.

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