"Medical Privacy and the new Congress"

[Peter Marshall <techdiff@ix.netcom.com>]

 From: Psychiatric.Grassroots.Network@bullets.cybercon.com

>> Sent: 	Monday, January 25, 1999 7:22 PM
>> Subject: 	Medical Privacy and the new Congress
>>
>>         ===================================================
>>          Psychiatric Grassroots Network (PSYCH-GRASSROOTS)
>>         ===================================================

>> THE STATE OF THE UNION: Will Americans enjoy PRIVACY ???

>> In his State of the Union Address, President Clinton said, "As more of our
>> medical records are stored electronically, the threats to our privacy
>> increase.  Because Congress has given me the authority to act if it does
>> not
>> do so by August, one way or another, we will protect the privacy of
>> medical
>> records this year."
>>
>> Although it's wonderful that he mentioned medical information privacy, it
>> is
>> not clear that the President or the Secretary of HHS truly want true
>> privacy.  As
>> you know, Shalala wants law-enforcement to have virtually open access to
>> all
>> medical records in order to search for Fraud and Abuse. The Republicans
>> did
>> not even mention health care policy priorities in their response.
>>
>> Congress clearly plans to grapple with the issue of medical information
>> privacy this year, rather than letting Clinton and Shalala's Department of
>> HHS
>> write regulations instead.
>>
>> WE CAN EXPECT A VERY DIFFICULT BATTLE IN CONGRESS BECAUSE
>> THE PUBLIC IS NOT YET AWARE OF THESE THREATS,
>> and the big insurance companies have been lobbying
>> massively to use personal identifiable medical data commercially.  The
>> insurance lobby has been to every Congressional office, many times, as the
>> financial stakes are very high.
>>
>> THE USE OF IDENTIFIABLE MEDICAL INFORMATION IS A $40 BILLION
>> PER YEAR BUSINESS at present, and growing exponentially
>> (from the New York Times).

>> WE SHOULD MAKE THE FOLLOWING POINTS:
>>
>> 1) CONGRESS MUST FIRST RECOGNIZE THAT ALL CITIZENS HAVE
>> THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY OF THEIR MEDICAL RECORDS.
>> Unfortunately, there is no federal law that expressly recognizes this
>> right.
>>
>> 2) The vast majority of LEGITIMATE RESEARCH CAN BE CONDUCTED WITH
>> MEDICAL INFORMATION that has all potential patient identifiers removed.
>> With the
>> current technology of probabalistic cross-referencing, this means that
>> even identifiers
>> such as birthdate or zip code can be used to identify specific individuals
>> in large medical
>> databases.
>>
>> A very high standard must be met before
>> identifiable medical information can be accessible.
>> Only when there is grave risk to the public should the rights of the
>> individual be taken away.  Currently, we recognize that individual privacy
>> may
>> be breached in cases of child abuse, elder abuse and in the reporting of
>> AIDS.
>> Only very serious matters, such as these should necessitate breaching
>> individual privacy.
>>
>> 3) FEDERAL LAW SHOULD PROVIDE A " FLOOR" NOT "CEILING" FOR STATE LAWS.
>>
>> 4) WE WANT OUR MEDICAL RECORDS TO HAVE AT LEAST THE SAME DEGREE OF
>> PROTECTION AS OUR BANKING RECORDS,
>> or better yet, the same degree of protection that the
>> commercial trade secrets of HMOs now enjoy.
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>> THE KEY COMMITTEES IN THE SENATE that will deal with privacy bills are:
>>
>> 1) LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, which may be renamed Health, Education,
>> Labor,
>> and Pensions (acronym HELP), chaired by James Jeffords (R-VT), and
>>
>> 2) FINANCE, chaired by William Roth (R-DE)
>>
>> THE KEY COMMITTEES IN THE HOUSE that will deal with privacy bills are:
>>
>> 1) WAYS AND MEANS, chaired by Bill Archer (R-TX), and
>>
>> 2) COMMERCE chaired by Tom Bliley (R-VA).

>> All of the medical information privacy bills from the last Congress will
>> have
>> to be reintroduced.  As you remember last session, Sen. Jeffords
>> introduced
>> one of the worst bills. But because he chairs one of the key Senate
>> committees
>> that will be looking at this legislation, he is a critical person for us
>> to
>> contact.
 This is of
>> tremendous concern to the public and to all physicians, but psychiatrists
>> should take the lead in explaining how crucial privacy is to quality
>> medical care.
>>
>> PSYCH-GRASSROOTS CO-CHAIRS:
>> Richard Epstein M.D.
>> Deborah Peel M.D.
>> Ronnie Stangler M.D.
>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ABOUT PSYCH-GRASSROOTS
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
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