NewsMax.com
Saturday, March 31, 2001

The Tennessee Republican, an ardent advocate of protecting individuals' privacy from government infringement, is in a powerful position to do just that.

As chairman of the Senate Public Health Subcommittee, he can play a key role in preventing a proposed regulation signed by Bill Clinton shortly before he left the presidency from having an adverse effect on the privacy of Americans' personal health files.

In a statement Friday to NewsMax.com, Frist – who is a physician as well as a lawmaker – said:

"Throughout this debate, we must remember that medical records are generated for the care of the patient, and this must remain our foremost concern.

"In my role as chairman of the Public Health Subcommittee, I will continue to follow this issue to ensure that strong privacy protections are enforced."

Opposition is building in Congress against the proposed Clinton regulation.

Conservatives are contending that instead of increasing protections for the privacy of individuals' health records, the Clinton rule would do precisely the opposite.

And health providers and medical institutions are opposing it because of the enormously expensive and cumbersome additional staffing and paperwork they say it will impose on the health industry.

Frist said that he is sensitive to both those sets of concerns.

He has heard arguments from those who feel Clinton was attempting at the last minute to accomplish by executive regulation what he was unable in his eight years as president to get Congress to enact into law.

Frist said that "moreover, I have heard from a number of physicians and health care providers about their concerns with the rule."

One of the first things President Bush did after taking the oath of office was to put a hold on the implementation of Clinton's regulation.

He sent it to his secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson, to review.

Thompson then reopened a 30-day comment period, which expired March 30.

The secretary has until April 14 to decide what to do with Clinton's proposed rule.

Frist said that this reopening of the comment period had given the HHS "an opportunity to ensure the existence of privacy protections that are strong and workable for both patients and providers."

He said that Thompson's "decision to delay the imposition of the final rule is appropriate and within line with the further requirements of the Congressional Review Act."

The secretary has been under pressure from liberal Democrats, led by Sens. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, not to touch the Clinton rule but to allow it to go into effect at the earliest possible date, which under the provisions of the document is Feb. 26, 2003.

If that were to happen, the Clinton rule would have the effect of law.

The options facing Thompson are four: allow the rule to go into effect untouched, kill it altogether, rewrite it, or let it go into effect and then make amendments.

However, Congress also has a role to play. It has the authority to enact legislation that would write the Clinton rule into law or, on the contrary, to kill it or rewrite it.

Kennedy and Lieberman have threatened to sponsor legislation adopting the Clinton rule word for word.

As chairman of the subcommittee through which such legislation in the Senate must pass, Frist is in a pivotal position.

In the House of Representatives, legislation is being drafted to do the opposite of what Kennedy and Lieberman want in the Senate.

Led by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a group of members wants to block the HHS Department from implementing the Clinton rule.

That legislation would have to go through the Ways and Means Committee, where the chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Texas, like Frist in the Senate, is a champion of privacy rights.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Medical Privacy
Clinton Scandals
Bush Administration

Related Products:
Have an Opinion About This? Send an URGENT PriorityGram Today