Senate Considering Medical Privacy Bills

[National CPR <ncpr@ma.ultranet.com> (by way of Peter Marshall)]

This is a critical time for patients rights. We need your help.
In Congress, the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
Committee (HELP Committee) will meet on May 19 to mark up medical privacy
legislation that will combine elements of three proposed bills.

National CPR has analyzed each of the pending bills and we have concerns
about all of them.

At the present time, the Leahy-Kennedy bill (S. 573) is the most
privacy-protective of all the bills pending in the Senate. Please
contact your senators, as well as those on the HELP committee, with this
message: Any federal legislation purporting to protect patient privacy MUST
1) Protect patient privacy by restricting widespread sharing of information
without patients' informed, non-coerced consent, and 2) Create a floor, not
a ceiling, of federal protection by not preempting stronger state laws.

You may contact your senators directly from our web site at the following
web address: http://congress.nw.dc.us/cpr/ You may use the letter we have
drafted and send it as e-mail, a fax, or a regular letter, or you may write
your own. But please, take the time to make your voice heard at this very
critical time.